


Vatonage

by vip4prez (ravenbrenna09)



Category: Pokemon - Fandom, Pokemon Rangers - Fandom, Pokemon Rangers: Shadows of Almia
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, More Characters/Relationships to follow, Novelization of Pokemon Rangers Shadows of Almia, Older Brother Kellyn, Pokemon Ranger - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-09-18 19:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20318428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenbrenna09/pseuds/vip4prez
Summary: Kate Morrow arrives at the Pokemon Ranger School to become a Pokemon Ranger in her brother's footsteps. But, there's a darkness spreading out in the Almia and Fiore regions as she struggles with the daily activities of being a Ranger while saving the world from darkness.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! 
> 
> This is my Pokemon story which is the novelization for my favorite Pokemon Ranger game (and arguably, my favorite Pokemon game in general!). This is cross-posted on fanfiction.net under the same name and same penname (vip4prez, for those wondering). Now, there are five additional chapters there which I won't get a chance to put on here until tomorrow if you guys want to go over and check that out. 
> 
> Here is the URL for that: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13059341/1/Vatonage
> 
> I hope to have the rest of the chapters that I do have up soon. But, I hope you enjoy!

"This styler is not like the styler you will use in the field," the man, Mr. Kaplan, spoke with confidence as he handed over the green device in his hands. Kate took it in her hand, looking at the green Ranger symbol. "This styler cannot use features that Rangers use, such as Poké Assist. In addition, the school styler is limited to only capturing three Pokémon at a time. Which hand is your dominant hand?"

Kate nervously raised her right hand after shifting the styler to her left hand. It seemed odd to hold it with this hand. Mr. Kaplan crossed the distance between them and placed her hand on his shoulder. Kate shifted nervously as he dug for something in his pocket. He pulled out a silver bracelet that had a tag on it. She briefly saw her own name, _Katelyn Morrow_, on the white tag before Mr. Kaplan ripped it off. A second later, Mr. Kaplan was fastening the silver bracelet around her shoulder.

Kate eyed the bracelet curiously. At the top of the bracelet was a green device that glowed green when Mr. Kaplan touched it. The device in Kate's hand shook a few moments afterwards and Kaplan smiled at her shocked face.

"This bracelet will allow you to connect with any school styler to use," Mr. Kaplan informed Kate, stepping away from her. Kate raised her arm to look at the bracelet. "Each bracelet is assigned to a specific student so you will return the bracelet once you graduate. However, each student will receive another bracelet for their styler once they reach their assignment." He stood in silence until Kate looked up at him. "Put your styler in your right hand and we can get started on your entrance exam."

Kate did as told, bringing her hands together to move the styler into her dominant hand. The bracelet vibrated vividly.

"Tighten your grip," Kaplan instructed.

Once again, Kate followed his instructions. To her surprise, a capture disc launched out of the disc and landed on the floor. The disc buzzed wildly on the floor. Kate turned towards the styler in her hand. There was a light blue rod of light sticking out of the styler. Curious, Kate moved the styler and the disc spinning on the ground moved along with it. Kate laughed to herself though only a grin formed on her face. Now, she truly felt like a Ranger.

"Do you have a good feel of the styler?" Kaplan questions, watching her. She tentatively nodded her head. "How the styler directs the disc?" Kate moved the styler around in sloppy circles and ovals, around Kate's feet and then around Kaplan's. The teacher chuckled. "Are you ready for your first capture, Katelyn Morrow?"

"Kate," she corrected, speaking for the first time. Her voice was a bit shaky from nerves. What kind of Pokémon would they have her catch for her first capture? Would it be a Bidoof? Or a Charmander?

"Ahh," Kaplan spoke, amused. "She speaks." She smiled at him. With this styler in her hand, she felt all of her nerves that arose from the boat ride (and subsequent walk) disappear. She had left her hometown, her family, and what remained of her friends to become a student of this Ranger School. Her nerves had been rampant on the boat and the walk as she pondered a simple question: was it worth it?

Now, holding this styler she knew it was.

"Are you ready?" Kaplan asked again.

"Yes," Kate spoke. "I am."

Mr. Kaplan smiled and he turned towards the Pikachu, which Kate did not even see until the teacher acknowledged it. The electric mouse Pokémon hopped off the desk and marched over to the spot in front of Kate. With a nod from Mr. Kaplan, the Pikachu started running around the room, as though he had done this before on numerous occasions. Kate gripped the styler and the capture disc (still spinning on the floor) sprung to life.

Careful and cautious, Kate guided the capture disc around the Pikachu. Every time that Kate completed a loop around the Pikachu, she felt the styler buzz beneath her fingertips. After three or four loops, the styler buzzed wildly. Somehow, Kate knew it meant that the capture was complete. Mr. Kaplan smiled a devious smile, walking over and pushing a button on side of the styler. The capture disc flew back to the styler with ease.

As Mr. Kaplan walked away from her, he laughed menacingly. However, Kate could tell that it was all a show. "Congratulations, Katelyn 'Kate' Morrow. You are now an official member of our secret army, Team School." Kate raised an eyebrow and attempted to suppress a chuckle. "For proof of your enrollment, you are now the proud temporary owner of that school styler. And together, we shall rule the world!"

Kate was certain that Mr. Kaplan might descend into faux menacing laughter if there was not a woman who cut him short from the other side of the room, "Mr. Kaplan, we've talked about you teasing my students with your silly performance." Kate turned to see a brunette woman walking towards them. The teacher was slender, wearing a bright green blouse and a fitting white skirt. On her feet, she wore beige flats. The woman was shorter than Mr. Kaplan, who towered over both of the women by a foot.

The man left out a small laugh. "I'm sorry, Kate, but the moment was too perfect. If it helps, I've done it to almost every student." He nudged her with his elbow.

"It's okay," Kate spoke with a shrug of her shoulders. "I understand."

Mr. Kaplan looked towards the woman to make a comment but she must've given him a look because he coughed before continuing. "Congratulations, Kate. You've passed the Ranger School's entrance exam with flying colors! That was quite an impressive capture for your first time ever holding a styler."

"Thank you, Supreme Leader Kaplan," Kate commented, bowing slightly as she spoke. Mr. Kaplan laughed so quick that he made a noise that sounded like a pig. His cheeks flushed red as he moved to cover his mouth. His eyes darted to the woman.

"Don't encourage him," the teacher slightly scolded, but it was clear that even she was trying to hold back her own laugh. "Congratulations, it's been very hard to impress Mr. Kaplan for a few years. If he says it's an impressive capture, it must have been. Now, you're officially a student of the Ranger School. I'm your class teacher, Ms. April, and you've already met Mr. Kaplan, who will teach you capturing." The teacher in question waved.

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. April," Kate spoke.

"Come on," Ms. April spoke, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and guiding her outside of the shed (as Mr. Kaplan gave an enthusiastic wave). "Let's go get you changed in time for class."

...

Ms. April had taken her to the staff room, which was empty except for a couple of cluttered desks, a few bookcases, and a green ranger banner on the far wall, and grabbed a uniform for Kate to change into. In the bathroom, Kate was slightly disappointed to see that the uniform had shorts. However, she mused that she needed to get used to it.

Once she changed, Kate exited the bathroom stall and looked at herself in the mirror. The denim romper was a pair of shorts and a tank top swon together. She had been given a belt that settled on her waist to make seem like they were two different pieces. She had not put on the green jacket or the gloves. In fact, she was having a hard time tying the uniform yellow tie around her neck. Kate's eyes drifted to the styler on her hip, hanging to her belt by the clip on the handle. She was really here. She was really on her way to be a Ranger.

Kate returned her eyes to her reflection, taking in the sight of her light brown pigtails and bangs. From her facial features to her blue-gray eyes, she took it all in as though she was looking at herself for the first time in her life. Most of the students in this school looked up to the Top Rangers as role models of what to be. How long would it be until the students draw the similarities between her and the new Top Ranger? His hair was darker than hers and he was taller than her by a foot (or at least, he was when he left), but they had the same eyes, the same facial features, the same mannerisms.

It wasn't hard to tell who Kate was if they really paid attention.

"Kate," Ms. April questioned, stepping into the bathroom. At the teacher's entrance, Kate snapped out of a daze and pulled the green jacket over her shoulders. "Is everything okay?"

Kate nodded. "Yeah, I just can't seem to get this tie to work.." Ms. April nodded, stepping closer and showing her the complicated steps until it was properly tied. Kate thanked Ms. April with a smile and the teacher moved to walk away. "Ms. April," Kate spoke. The teacher paused as she moved to open the bathroom door. "I have a request."

"What is it?" Ms. April questioned.

"Is it possible to not tell the other students who I am?" Kate questioned. "I know that my brother is a hero to the majority of these students and former alumni of the school; but, I don't want the other students to expect me to be just like him. We're different people."

"Kate," Ms. April spoke, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "Don't worry. The news that Kellyn is your brother will only come from you when you want it to." Kate felt herself relax as though there was an invisible weight she did not realize she was carrying. "Come on, the other students are waiting for you."

"Is my roommate in my class?" she questioned. She knew that the dorms were split so two girls or boys were given a room. There were only a handful of rooms because of the limited amount of students. The only reason Kate was able to become a student a month into the year was due to another student dropping out. So, there was an empty bed.

"Yes," Ms. April spoke. "Rhythmi will be your roommate and she is in my class. Don't worry. I'm sure you'll get along."

Kate nodded. Kate just hoped that this girl, Rhythmi, would nice about giving up her room which she (currently) didn't share with anyone.

…

Kate had willed herself not to be nervous. And from the relatively short walk from the Staff Room to the classroom, this fact was true. Kate was not nervous. At least, not until she stepped into the classroom and the entirety of the class was looking at her direction. Then, her stomach knotted and butterflies flew through her stomach. It was like snapping a finger and her entire demeanor changed.

As Kate walked nervously to the front of the class, she attempted to hold her head high and not cower into her nervous shell. She'll become a Pokémon Ranger just like everyone else (well, most of them) in the room and she deserved to be here just as much as everyone else.

Even if she was a month behind.

As Ms. April guided her to stand beside her, Kate looked around at the other students in the classroom. There was one kid with black hair. There was a girl with short auburn hair and a small green clip in her hair beside him. Both were dressed in the school uniforms looking like they were made to wear them. There was a blonde girl with curly hair and bangs similar to Kate's. She smiled brightly at Kate, making her feel slightly more confident with her appearance and place within the classroom. To the right of the only empty desk (which was surely her spot), there was a cocky boy with spiky red hair and a smug smile plastered on his face.

Kate stopped the urge to groan.

_Great_, she thought, _one of those guys._

"Class," Ms. April announced. "This is our new student, Kate. I hope that you **all **give her a warm welcome." The brunette teacher gave a long look towards the red-haired boy as though she was threatening him to move the wrong way. "Kate, why don't you go ahead and sit next to Keith?" She motioned to the empty chair.

Kate nodded her head, trying not to speak in squeaky noises, and moved to go sit down in the chair. As Kate sat down and pulled her chair closer, she felt a pair of eyes looking at her. She glanced over at Keith, who once again watched her with a smug smile on his face. Then, the boy turned and returned his gaze to the teacher.

Ms. April launched into a review session about the previous unit. However, Kate had a hard time concentrating on her words at the present time. It was difficult when there were a handful of eyes staring at the back of your head. The students, all except the blonde, were looking at her with interest as though they were all dying to walk over and find out her deepest and darkest secrets.

_Or, _a voice in her head thought, _they already know that you're a Top Ranger's kid sister._

Kate paled at the thought. While it wasn't a life-threatening secret that required Kate to be pulled out of school, it was a frightening one to Kate who did not want that secret to be spilled just yet. She wanted to be able to make friends on her own accord instead of who she was connected to.

"Now that we have gone over the review for the previous unit," Ms. April announced. For a moment, Kate felt all of her students' eyes leave her. There's an annoyed look on Ms. April's face like she knew that she would need to be going over the review again later this afternoon. "Since the class seems to be distracted, I am electing for the next thirty minutes of the remaining class time to meet our new student. After that, I want you guys in the dining hall to continue this review in a more attentive style."

The class looked at her, looking at her with confused eyes.

"Is that a deal?"

"Deal," the class chorused.

"Good," Ms. April replied. She walked over to the blonde across the aisle from Kate. "Rhythmi, can you show Kate around the school? In addition, do you mind showing her where the dorm you will be sharing will be?"

Rhythmi beamed. "Of course, Ms. April!"

"Thank you," Ms. April replied before she headed outside the room. As she left, she turned towards the class, "Please, take it easy on Kate. I do not need you lot to run her off before she even really had a chance to settle down." Then, she left.

As though the other students were planning it, all of them rose from their seats and headed in Kate's direction. However, the first person there was Keith, who leaned on her desk as he attempted to make himself look more important than her. "Hey, new kid," he greeted. "I forgot your name already, but how long did it take you to capture that Pikachu? Like, an hour?"

Kate was too stunned that she couldn't think of a proper response as she stood up.

However, Rhythmi was the next person to reach them. "Keith's just a show-off," she spoke, putting her hands on her hips. "You're better off ignoring him," she added, though it seemed like she was simply teasing him. "Instead," she continued, taking Kate's hands and pulling her from behind the desk, "You should be listening to me! I'm not here to be a Ranger. I want to be an Operator." She looked at the others before leaning close to Kate, "Because then I can order Keith around like my servant once we graduate."

Keith let out a shallow laugh. "Funny, Rhythmi."

She gave him a glare. "You know that I'm kidding." She took Kate's hand again and pulled her towards the classroom go. "Come on, let's get this tour started." Once they were free of the classroom, Rhythmi let her hand go. "I'm sorry for dragging you out of there," she apologized. "I can tell that you don't like the spotlight that much."

"Just don't like being the new girl is all," Kate responded. "Especially when I know that this sort of thing isn't generally normal."

Rhythmi shrugged, understanding. "That's true. Come on, I'll show you the school."

...

Even though the Ranger School was only two stories, Kate thought that the building was massive.

In addition to their own classroom, there was another classroom across that hall that belonged to Mr. Kincaid. The teacher of that class was blonde and simple, not standing out too much compared to Ms. April. Other than the fact, he wore more hairspray in his hair than any man that Kate had ever met before. He wore a pair of ironed, gray pants, an expensive-looking yellow button-up, and a maroon sweater vest. The kids in his class seemed uninterested in his class. With a small greeting, they're gone as though he would rather send them into the pit of hell than have them for one more minute in his class.

Before heading to the library, the two girls briefly stopped in the Staff Room to see the principal and Ms. April. However, they were deep in conversation so they did not stay for long. Next, Rhythmi dragged her to the library that was situated at the back of the school. It is in the library that Kate meets the influential scientist-to-be, Isaac, who is deep in thought (and with a mushroom cut). She also meets one of her classmates, Halley, who loves the library, as well as Ponte, the self-proclaimed "conflicted marshmallow boy". Isaac is quiet and doesn't talk to her more than a brief sentence, but Kate does not get much time to try and get him to talk before Rhythmi is dragging her upstairs to the dorms.

The living quarters of the students were all situated upstairs. On one side of the room were a handful of pink doors that led to the individual girls' dorms. On the opposite side, there was an equal number of blue dorms that signaled the boys' living space. In the large common area, there were a lot of desks and plush chairs where students could do assignments or studying. In addition, there was a pool table and a television that was currently showing a football game for some of the students that had wandered their way up here.

As Rhythmi was explaining about the various times where students were allotted in the common area on each day, the bell rang. The blonde lit up in excitement. "Come on," she pushed, moving towards the stairs. "There's one more place that I need to show you before lunch!" Kate followed after the blonde, going down the stairs and out the front doors the school.

As the two of them stepped out onto the pathway to the shed, Kate registered a mass of small brown Pokémon, Bidoof, running away from a woman, who cried after them. Kate counted the amount of small brown Pokémon that were running around the lawn. There were so many of them that she did not know if she counted them correctly but she thought she saw nine. The brown-haired woman caught sight of the two of them as they rushed over to the frantic woman, "Janice," Rhythmi gasped. "What happened?"

"I accidentally stepped on the lead Bidoof's tail as I was trying to feed them and he started running around," Janice spoke. "Now they're so riled up that they won't eat or listen to me. Can you help me calm them down?" The last part was directed towards Kate, who was already moving to grab the Styler from the clip on her belt.

"I thought I heard a commotion out here!" Kate pivoted to see Keith, heading out the front door with his Styler in hand. "You, new kid!" The boy pointed the blue rod of his styler towards her, his capture disc spinning excitedly at his feet. "Let's see how good you really are! I challenge you to a race. The one who catches the most Bidoof wins. Are you up for it?"

Kate let out a sigh, gripping her styler and seeing the capture disc shoot from her styler. "It doesn't sound like I have much of a choice."

"That's the spirit," Keith grinned. He leaned over like he was fixing to run a race. "Three… Two... One… Go!"

...

At the end of the "race", Keith had caught five of the Bidoof while Kate only managed to capture four of them. The caretaker of the Pokémon, Janice, was enthusiastic at the two capturing and calming down all of the Bidoof that were out of control. There was a twinkle in her eye when she shook Kate's hand as though she knew what Kate wanted to hide. However, she did not speak of it which Kate was thankful for. There was a kick to her step as she walked off to feed the Bidoof on the opposite end of the grounds, promising treats in apologies.

Rhythmi sighed heavily, placing her hands on her hips as she turned the red-haired boy with them. "Are you satisfied _now_, Keith?" She gave a solid glare to the boy with spiky red hair.

Keith ignored Rhythmi and turned his attention towards Kate, who just watched the two with an amused smile on her face. "I'd rate your captures 65 out of 100." He paused and Kate watched him curiously, raising an eyebrow. "But, I'll be honest: I was pretty surprised by how you did. You're pretty decent for someone who just learned about this."

While that wasn't technically true, it was her second time _using _a styler and the first time outside of a controlled environment like the entrance exam. "Thank you," Kate spoke. "I think that's a lot coming from you."

"It's Kate, right?" Keith questioned, extending his hand.

Kate took his hand and shook it. "That's right," she paused, letting him think for just a moment that she didn't know his name, "Keith."

He smiled at her, sheepishly. And then, Rhythmi punched Keith in the shoulder. He flinched and reached up to rub his arm while pushing the blonde away from him. "Keith! You knew her name the entire time, didn't you? For goodness sake…" Then, she grabbed Kate's arm and dragged her away from Keith. "Come on, there's one more place that I still need to show you!"

Keith jogged to keep up. "You haven't shown her Ascension Square, yet?"

"No, we were on our way there when _someone_ decided that he wanted to have a race to capture the Bidoof instead of just catching them himself," Rhythmi teased, looking at him over her shoulder. "Come on," Rhythmi instructed Kate, pulling her towards the stairs with Keith following behind.

...

Ascension Square was beautiful.

The grass was cut and pristine as though it never grew. There were a few trees in the square that were well-maintained by one of the faculty of the school that Kate had not met yet. The square backed up to the ocean which had a small dock for a boat to dock. There wasn't a boat there at the moment which made Kate to wonder as to why they decided to place a dock on the school with no boat to show for it. In the center of the square, there was a large statue that depicted the official Ranger symbol elevated on two platforms.

Rhythmi motioned towards the large statue. "This is the Pledge Stone," she informed Kate with a glance in her direction. "Legend states that if you make a firm pledge with your friends here, it is sure to come true." She motioned towards a set of markings that depicted people's names all around the base. Kate leaned forward to spot the different markings. "Some of those who have pledged have carved their names into the stone."

Kate ran her hand over her brother's name at the base of the statue.

"Yes," a cool voice said, "Though, not all pledges are depicted on that stone." The three of them turned to find an elderly gentleman descending the stairs to meet them. Kate recognized him because of the fact that she had seen him briefly in the Staff Room briefly conversing with Ms. April. He had gray hair that was swept to one side and a pair of glasses that made his eyes look like they were twinkling. He wore a brown suit with a green tie. He stepped closer to the three of them and smiled brightly at Kate. "You must be Kate, our new student."

"Yes sir," she spoke. She reached out to shake his hand. "We tried to talk to you earlier but you and Ms. April were busy."

"I understand," the principal spoke. "That is why I chose to find you myself so that you can know who I am." He outstretched his hand. "I'm Principal Lamont. My last name is a little long so the students here just call me Lamont." He turned towards Keith and Rhythmi, who looked nervous being acknowledged by the principal. "Janice informed me of how you helped with the Bidoof in the courtyard and I thank you both for helping her. However, I would like to speak with Kate privately."

"Of course," Rhythmi spoke up. "We'll save you a spot at lunch." She gave Kate a hug and quickly informed her that lunch was held in the common room on the second floor. Then, she and Keith headed up the stairs towards the school, talking with one another.

For a moment, Principal Lamont watched them go. Once they were gone, he waited for a few heartbeats as though he wouldn't put it past Keith to come back and attempt to overhear whatever they were going to talk about. Then, he moved to the statue, sitting on the base of the statue and folding his hands together on his lap. "Ms. April informed me that you do not want the other students to know that you are related to Kellyn."

"That's correct," she responded. "Is that a problem?"

"Not at all," he replied. "In fact, I believe that it's an excellent idea. The students might assume that you will get special treatment because your brother is a Top Ranger when that is simply not the case. Actually, I believe that Ms. April might push you harder so you can surpass the image that he's left behind."

Kate nodded.

"But," he added. "I want you to know that I know the true reason as to why you don't want your fellow students to know of his identity."

She glanced up at him with wide eyes.

He chuckled. "For the first month of Kellyn's admittance, he spent the entire time wondering if he made the right decision, leaving the family. He came to me a lot because he was sad about what he did. And while I do not agree with how he did it, you have to admit that he's done some fantastic good in the world."

Kate looked at him with wide eyes and stepped backward once he stood up.

Principal Lamont did not seem affected by her reaction as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I know you and Kellyn have some issues to work out and I implore you to work them out. Family is all we have." He patted her shoulder before he started to walk away.

"Is all of that true?" Kate questioned.

The principal turned back and nodded. "Hold onto your family," he advised. "I know from experience how pushing away your family can be a lonely time."

And, with that, Principal Lamont left her alone in Ascension Square, staring at her brother's name.


	2. Midnight Talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, the beginning of school has been completely hectic so I did not end up posting a chapter last week (even though I have six chapters fully completed), but I hope to have the rest of them up at some point this week and I'm in the middle of the most recent chapter. So, if you want to read all of them, they are all published on fanfiction.net and I had given a link in chapter one. However, if you want to wait, I'm hoping to have them all up by the weekend.

After talking with Principal Lamont, Kate headed back into the school. The hallways were bare of students but that wasn't surprising since it was lunchtime. She jogged towards the stairs before climbing to the second floor. The other students were all seated, talking over trays of mashed potatoes and chicken nuggets. The smell of the food made Kate's stomach growl on command. She was so nervous that she didn't even realize she was hungry. The brunette spotted Ms. April talking to Mr. Kaplan close to the pool table while Principal Lamont talking with Janice and another woman that Kate hadn't met yet. Mr. Kincaid was seated in the corner with Isaac, the boy with the mushroom haircut. Both of them poured over some documents.

Something churned in Kate's gut. Something seemed off…

"Kate!"

The brunette pivoted to find Rhythmi running towards her. The blonde beamed at her even after she stopped in front of Kate. "Come on," she spoke, taking her hand. "Keith and I already got your tray for you." She didn't even hesitate at dragging Kate across the student hangout, leading her to the back of the room which was furthest from the stairs. At the table nearest the window, Keith sat facing the redhead Halley who she met earlier. The two were chatting together along with a black-haired boy, who had his hair pulled into a small ponytail. Upon seeing them approach, the boy stood up and introduced himself as Brayden.

"There you are," Keith spoke. He smiled at her. "We were beginning to worry you got lost." Kate sent him a look while he simply chuckled in response. The blonde dropped her hand and moved on the other side of the table to sandwich herself between Brayden and Halley. She began munching on her potatoes. The only untouched tray was at the spot next to Keith. Kate took the place to be hers and sat beside him. "What did Principal Lamont want?" he questioned.

Kate shrugged, avoiding his gaze as she scooped up a few her potatoes. "Just wanted to get to know me, I guess." She ate her potatoes and picked up a nugget.

"He just wanted to talk to you?" Keith questioned.

Kate nodded. "Yeah, we just talked about my family for a bit." Which, technically, wasn't a lie but that fact didn't make her feel any better. "What have you guys been talking about?" she questioned, attempting to get to a new subject as quickly as possible.

"Outdoor Class," Halley spoke, pushing a strand of short red hair behind her ear. "We were having a debate on which Rangers are going to come to teach for the day." At Kate's confused look, she quickly elaborated. "Once a year, the teachers recruit a handful of alumni to come and teach us about what we should expect once we graduate. It's called Outdoor Class."

"It's not for a few months," Keith informed. "But, Ms. April likes to get the arrangements settled down within a month or two of the beginning of the year so she knows what to expect as it gets closer. Or at least, that's what she seems to be doing. There have been talks about it since we started school."

Rhythmi nodded her head. "Plus, it's nice to know which of the groups will be here. From what we can gather, it tends to be those from Vientown or Pueltown."

Halley gave her a light, teasing glare. "So, do you happen to know which Mechanics will be coming to the Outdoor Class in a few weeks?"

Rhythmi gave her a look that practically screamed "of course I know" before she launched into her explanation. "There is supposedly a Top Mechanic named Oliver that's coming in from the Ranger Union. He's the head of the upgrades that go in machines and stylers for every Ranger. He's a legend, or so I've heard from Halley." The latter part of her sentence was directed towards Kate, who nodded her head. She hadn't heard much about Top Mechanics. But, Rhythmi grinned as she turned back to face Halley. "Plus, I heard that Elaine from Vientown is also scheduled to attend."

"That's amazing," Halley spoke, looking dreamlike towards Brayden. "She can tear apart _anything_ without breaking a sweat. Can you believe it, Brayden? We might get to meet Elaine of Vientown _and _a Top Mechanic!" Brayden shrugged his shoulders even though there was a large grin on his face. Apparently, Kate noted, he was the silent type.

"One of the Top Operators, Linda, has already been confirmed to be a guest as well," the blonde gushed, grabbing onto Halley's arm. "Can you believe it? A Top Operator has been slated to come to our Outdoor Class. I can finally figure out if I'm good enough to be a Top Operator." She had stars in her eyes as she gazed somewhere over Keith's head.

Keith glanced up from his food, amused about his friend's antics. "Any news about Top Rangers coming to Outdoor Class?" he questioned. He and the others didn't seem to notice Kate's stomach drop and her face begin to pale at the prospect of a Top Ranger coming. "I mean, if Ms. April has managed to wrangle in a Top Operator and a Top Mechanic, do you think she's managed to wrangle in a Top Ranger to come to talk to us?"

Rhythmi shrugged her shoulders. "No idea. She hasn't said anything about it so far. Anything is possible when it comes to Ms. April. But, with everything going on in the region, I don't know if any of the Top Rangers can come to Outdoor Class."

"She has a point," Kate spoke up for the first time as she shuffled around potatoes. "It isn't a secret that there's something awful going on in Almia. They should be focusing on trying to figure out why that is happening. Not going to some outdoor class." She glanced up at them and noticed the briefly confused looks on their faces as if they could tell that something else was going on. Her stomach twisted further, if possible. "But," she added, mostly to deflect suspicions. "If one does manage to come, I hope it's Wendy."

And, it seemed to have worked

Halley spoke her affirmation to Kate's simple statement before turning to talk about Elaine from Vientown with Brayden, both of them practically _shaking_ with excitement over the mechanic coming to Outdoor Class in a couple of months. Rhythmi bounced out of her seat to go talk to Ms. April and Mr. Kaplan on the other side of the room, leaving Kate alone in her own thoughts and Keith.

As Kate thought about her brother and found herself falling deeper and deeper into the void, she felt Keith's knee nudge her own. The simple gesture pulled her out of thoughts and caused her to tear her eyes from her potatoes to look at him. Despite not being her friend until an hour ago, he visibly looked concerned. "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head. "I'm fine," she lied.

He didn't seem convinced when she looked away.

…

The wall behind Rhythmi's bed had been taken over by pictures of family and friends before (and after) she arrived at the Ranger Academy. Her walls had been covered with pictures to the point that Kate could barely make out the pink on the walls beneath. Her bed, which sat in the midst of all the photos, was covered in different Pokémon plushies but the biggest of them all was a Buneary. Her clothes were neatly tucked away in the drawer. The only exception was the uniform that she had begun tearing off as soon as she had walked in the dorm.

"Finally," Rhythmi cried, smiling from ear-to-ear. She was now dressed in a long-sleeve white sweater and a pair of pajama shorts. "That tie felt like it was suffocating me." Kate, who had also changed into a green tank top, black sweats, and taken her hair down, glanced up from her letter to watch her new friend. The blonde collapsed on the bed, grabbing the Buneary beside her head and snuggled it close to her chest. "Buneary has always been my favorite Pokemon," she informed Kate. "My dad got this for my birthday when I told him I applied and was accepted to become an Operator. He told me that I'll always have a little piece of home as long as my Buneary is around me."

Kate smiled at the thought, already missing her own favorite Pokémon which she had left with her family for safekeeping. Student Rangers were forbidden to have their own Partner Pokémon while still learning, so Kate was forced to leave him behind. She already missed the monkey which curled up at her side whenever he slept. Maybe, she can write in her letter to have her family send her photos of home so maybe she wouldn't feel so far away. She glanced down at her letter, already almost a page long. It consisted of mostly reaffirmations that she made it across the ocean and to Almia and her rambles of missing home. She wondered if she should include a note about Kellyn possibly making an appearance at Outdoor Class in a few months time, but she ultimately decided against it, leaving her note at her request to send some photos.

She folded up her letter, sealing it in the envelope she had grabbed and placed it on the side of her nightstand to mail out tomorrow.

"Are you tired?" Rhythmi questioned.

Kate shook her head. She wasn't, not really. Immediately, Rhythmi bounced off her bed, pulling Kate upwards and dragging her out into the commons area. To Kate's surprise, she found that Keith, Halley, and even Brayden were standing by one of the tables. While Keith was dressed in sweats and a blue t-shirt, Halley and Brayden were both still dressed in their uniforms. The Mechanics must've had a workshop to do if they were still in their uniforms two hours after their class with Ms. April ended. Rhythmi pulled Kate over to the three of them, the former beaming with excitement. For a moment, Kate felt like she had just been pulled into a party she didn't know was happening.

"There you are!" Keith spoke, his voice a mixture between a whisper and a hiss. He was being careful about not being too loud.

"What's going on?" Kate questioned.

"It's the Test of Courage," Rhythmi spoke. Kate's eyebrows furrowed and the blonde launched into an explanation. "It's an annual tradition that we all do. It's been passed down from graduating class to graduating class in the form of a letter under our beds. We all put our stylers in each classroom and you have to go find them."

"Then, you have to take them in the basement," Keith picked up. "And place them out in front of Kincaid's laboratory. Then, we're done. Easy but a little bit spooky," he admits before grinning at her. "You do have an easily scared look about you," he jokes.

She rolled her eyes.

Rhythmi beamed at him. "I love that you say that, Keith, because the person to the right of the new student gets to go with them and give them hints. So, you'll get to see it yourself." Kate let out a light chuckle as she turned towards Keith, who was giving the blonde a glare over Kate's head. Rhythmi put her hand on her shoulder. "Light's go out at 10:00 so you have another 30 minutes before you will get in trouble."

"We'll be back before then," Kate spoke, moving towards the stairs. She made sure she had placed her styler in her sweat's pocket before she pivoted back towards Keith, who was still standing with the group. "Come on, Keith, we gotta go before we get in trouble," she teased. He chuckled and moved to follow her down the stairs.

As they descended the stairs, Kate heard him groan under his breath, "I hate the basement."

…

Once they stepped down from the stairs from the commons area, Kate got lost in the secluded silence that the school at night possessed. There were a handful of windows which allowed moonlight to escape into the building, illuminating the path the hallways carved. It wasn't hard to see where they were going. Despite the fact that the sun went down an hour ago, none of the lights on the walls had flickered on. But, she could still see the ranger symbol carved into the floor with the minimal light around them.

Keith stepped down beside her and visibly shivered when he stuck his hands in his pockets. "The school at night gives me the creeps," he told her. She smirked. Somewhere in front of them, a shadow flickered. Keith jumped, letting a yelp escape his lips and moved back towards the stairs. Kate reached for her styler in her pocket but froze at the sight of a Bidoof meandering across the hallway. It stretched its front paws out in front of it, laying down and instantly falling asleep.

"It's just one of Janice's Bidoof," Kate spoke, turning towards her companion. "I always knew that you were easily scared," she teased, grinning.

"Don't you start," Keith warned, though his threat had little backbone to it. Kate grinned at him. It didn't help that his mouth was turning up slightly. "Where do you want to go first? Staff Room or Library?"

Kate thought about it. "Library," she spoke. He nodded his head before moving towards the steps off the platform. "And don't worry Keith," she teased with a smile on her face. He stopped, turning towards her with a questionable look in his eyes. "If you get scared again, I can always hold your hand."

Even in darkness, Keith's cheeks visibly blushed but Kate didn't call him out on it. There was a hint of a smile on his face. He opened his mouth to retort back to her, probably something about not needing her to hold his hand, but then, the two of them heard footsteps. Even though both knew that there were another 30 minutes until they couldn't leave their dorms, both moved to hide. Keith moved down the stairs and around the banister while Kate jumped over. Keith was already at her feet, pulling her to the floor beside him and out of sight from whoever was entering the hallway.

Desperate to see what was going on, Kate glanced towards the mirror. However, she couldn't see it great from her current angle. Kate leaned over Keith to see a bit better and he instinctively moved his arm from off his knees so he wouldn't block her view. In addition, his eyes flickered over to the mirror as well. However, his left hand rose up to replace his other arm, giving him the chance to pull her back out of view. From her new position, she could clearly spot Ms. April stepping out of the Staff Room, looking in their direction. However, if she could see them in the mirror, she didn't call out to them.

There's a heartbeat of silence from both sides. Then, Ms. April spoke, pivoting her head to speak behind her. "Do you think that they'll do a Test of Courage for Kate?"

"No idea," a deep, familiar voice graveled somewhere behind Ms. April. It wasn't until Mr. Kaplan stepped into view that she realized the voice belonged to him. He was rubbing his eyes as he leaned against the door frame, exhausted. He had long since taken off his baseball cap, leaving his hair to stand up all over the place, and he still had his jacket on, but it was unbuttoned. "But," he spoke again, making it more and more obvious that he had just woken up, "We should probably head to the shed, in case they decided to do just that."

"Yeah," Ms. April spoke, glancing further down the hallway, towards the front door.

Moments later, Ms. April disappeared into the Staff Room, shuffling past the tall Mr. Kaplan as she did. He hadn't moved from his spot. Once she was inside the Staff Room, he merely pivoted his head to continue talking to her. "Claire went home to Pueltown. She and her wife got some big vacation planned in Sinnoh for the next week or so. Besides, we have another half an hour before we need to drag them to bed."

"Yes," Ms. April spoke, back in the door frame to pat his chest. "The Pichu won't leave. But, yes, I know, dragging fraternizing students back to their dorm is your favorite part of the job." The fact that Ms. April stood on her toes to kiss him shouldn't have been a surprise but Kate still felt shocked at the revelation. "Come on, let's go. We need to go over last-minute recommendations for the Outdoor class."

There's a pang in her stomach. _Please don't talk about my brother, _she silently willed.

"Has Wendy or Sven responded?" Mr. Kaplan questioned, his voice beginning to perk up. He closed the door to the Staff Room as Ms. April stepped towards the hallway, quietly stepping over the Bidoof as it slumbered on. Mr. Kaplan jogged to catch up to her and whatever response that Ms. April gave was lost in jumbled words that they couldn't make out.

Once the front door swung shut, Kate felt like all the air returned to her body. She sat back and leaned against the banister. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned towards Keith, to find him shaking his head. Then, he spoke in a whisper, which was directed towards her, "Ms. April is a hypocrite. I want you to know that."

Kate's eyebrows furrowed but she could feel the laugh beginning to work up in her throat. "Huh?"

"She is a hypocrite," Keith repeated. "She constantly goes on about how we shouldn't be 'fraternizing' and there she is, fraternizing with another teacher. It's like I can't even hang out with a girl without her breathing 'no fraternizing' down my neck." He stopped for a moment, staring at her. Then, Kate realized just how close they were.

They were less than an arms length's away, their arms brushing together. It had been the result of Keith pulling her to the ground to avoid being seen out of bed. They had been so hurried to not be spotted that they didn't bother to realize how close they were. Now, here they were, sitting in the darkness near the library, staring at each other. But, it didn't really matter. Kate pivoted until she was on her toes before standing up fully.

"Come on," she spoke, reaching an arm out to him. "We better go and collect these stylers before they get back and decide to drag us back to the dorms by our ears." Keith nodded his head, not saying anything. He reached out, grabbing the back of her elbow. She gripped his arm and helped him onto his feet. Then, she moved out of his grasp towards the library, pulling her styler from the pocket of her sweats.

Keith followed after her, smiling.

…

The view from the roof of the Ranger HQ was breathtaking.

From the Operations Center on the third floor, there was an escalator to the roof that housed a great, tall oak tree. Though there was nothing on the top floor but the tree, there was large steel walls around the tree to guard it against the weather. And, if someone were to climb on the top of those walls, to sit on the grass which had been planted on the roof, that was where every person in the HQ would agree was the most breathtaking. But most people inside didn't have the time or the energy to do it, to climb up a ladder almost a story tall, or have the nerve to walk over to the edge and sit on it to allow their feet to swing in the wind.

But, on this particular night, Kellyn Morrow, the 10th Top Ranger, had the nerve and the energy and the time to do such a thing.

If anyone of the students at the Ranger Academy saw Kate and Kellyn side-by-side, it would be impossible to not see that the two were related. Kellyn was a little older, with his facial features more mature, but the same basic shape was there. His hair was a little thicker and a little darker than Kate's was. And, he was almost a head taller. But, the two had the same eyes, blue eyes from their mother.

Whenever he was on midnight patrols, this is where he would be, sitting on the roof, an earpiece in his ear, which allowed him to stay in constant contact with Linda, his assigned Top Operator, and a long-time friend. The nights were quiet in terms of calls even with Team Dim Sun running around, causing havoc, so he could afford to sit on the roof and stargaze. He always had a Staraptor nearby for when he needed to make a quick getaway to another destination to resolve a problem.

But, Kellyn didn't have his styler on him, and there wasn't a Staraptor lying in the grass behind him or in the trees. He had traded his Ranger Uniform for a pair of sweats and plain white t-shirt and his brown hair was wet from his shower about thirty minutes ago. Even the wind seemed to have died down enough so his hair wasn't drying as fast as he hoped it would. The only thing that remained was the earpiece, which connected to the ops center a floor below, so Kellyn could listen to the chatter of the night such as the flirtatious banter between Sven and Linda, the only two awake so late tonight.

And the reason that Kellyn was awake, instead of sleeping or getting ready to go to sleep was in his hands: the note given to him by a Swellow, owned by Principal Lamont. _Katelyn Morrow has arrived at the Ranger Academy to become a Ranger. I hope this does not change your decision to come to the Outdoor Class._

If he was honest with himself, Kellyn did not know the last time he had seen his sister. And, he didn't want to think about it because the only thing he could think was how much of a horrible brother that he was, for leaving the family and never looking back. And, he didn't want to think about how when he finally did have a break, manage to request a day off, and flew to his childhood home, he found the empty shell of the place he used to live with a "Foreclosed" sign in the front lawn. And, he didn't want to think about that.

But, he was.

"Hey," Kellyn turned to find his longtime friend, Linda, stepping onto the roof. The girl had pulled all of her bright blue hair into two pigtails at the base of her neck, sweeping her bangs off to the side. Instead of the typical Operator uniform, she was dressed in a pair of jeans and a black shirt for the night shift. She pulled her jacket closer to her chest in the cold air and crossed the roof to sit down next to him. "Slicer is really worried about you," she spoke. "But he hasn't moved from where you left him earlier."

"I know," Kellyn thought of the Garchomp, his beloved partner. "But, I really wanted to be left alone at the moment." He looked down at the note in front of him once again. He realized that his earpiece was not emitting any sort of sound and wondered how long it had been since it had been completely drained of battery. "Where is Sven now?"

"Somewhere over the Fiore region," Linda spoke. "There was a lead that there's a Team Dim Sun base along the coast of the region but it seemed like that lead was false." She pushed back a stray piece of hair. "Chairperson Erma has called off the mission for the night and told me to come take you to bed so the night time operator and rangers can take over."

"I can't sleep today, Linda," Kellyn spoke, softly. "Not after finding out that Kate is now at the Ranger Academy. I'm just thinking so much." He trailed off, pushing back strands of his hair. "I just can't believe after all this time…"

"I know," Linda spoke, reaching over to take his hand. She brought it into her lap, enclosing his larger hands into her two smaller ones. Her thumb grazed the back of his hand, trying to soothe his mind to the best of her ability. "But, it's going to be okay. Okay, I want you to understand that no matter what happens, it'll all turn out okay."

He nodded his head, leaning to drop her head on his shoulder. He felt the pressure of her own head against his own. "What if she and Kelsei hate me? What if my father hates me for what I did? I went and became a Ranger against his wishes."

Linda sighed heavily, gripping his hand tighter. "From what you've told me, your father is very protective of Kate and she values his opinion highly. Do you really think that Kate was allowed to become a Ranger without your father's approval?"

Kellyn chucked. "You have a point."

"I always have a point," Linda spoke. "Come on, it's time to go to bed, Kellyn, or you won't be responsive to Chairperson Erma and you know how much she hates that." She stood on her feet, using his shoulder to steady her as she raised up. She waits until Kellyn rises to his own feet before she moves to step down the ladder. For a moment, Kellyn pauses, looking at the view of the forest and the lights of the city so far away. He wonders what his sister is doing, what his baby sister is doing, his parents...

Then, he stops, moving towards the ladder, and waits until she's at the bottom before he slides down it himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews give me motivation. But, if you don't want to leave a review, leave a kudos! If you want to be notified as I update with the remaining chapters, you can always subscribe to the story! 
> 
> See you in the next chapter!


	3. The Test of Courage

When Kate pushed open the door into the library, she momentarily got lost in the eerie aura of the night time library. The tables, which were normally filled with studying students, were now empty and quiet. The bookshelves were pristine and still, likely from Halley's efforts to keep them as such whenever she was in here. All the chairs for the tables were pushed in, nice and orderly. For some reason, the walkways between the tables were now filled with boxes that were too tall for Kate to hop over.

She turned towards Keith, who closed the door to the hallway behind them. "Why are there boxes in the library?"

Keith shrugged. "I think the purpose is to discourage students from sneaking down here to _be together_," he spoke with a cough and flushed cheeks. It was dark and there was little light around them, but Kate could still see the slight pink tinge to his cheeks. She didn't call him out on it, but she did find it amusing that he seemed to flush at his own mention of two students together. He must've seen her amused grin but he didn't comment on it. "Hurry up with finding that styler. The library is creepy at night."

"So, _you're _the one that's easily spooked," she teased.

"Shut up." He flushed.

Kate looked around the room, spotting the styler on the furthest table from the door. She glanced towards the boxes and moved to press a hand on them. After a few moments, she pressed more weight against the wood. From the way the wood responded, she knew that there was no way she could climb on top and over them without the wood collapsing beneath her. If she broke the boxes with the lounging Bidoof's target clear, they would surely be caught before the end of this "Test of Courage". Even then, capturing the Bidoof would cause them to waste more time that they didn't really have.

"What are you thinking about?" Keith questioned.

"Just thinking," she mused. She walked over to the chairs on the table, placing one foot on one of them. She glanced towards Keith, who had wide eyes as though he hadn't thought of that, before putting her whole body weight on the chair. It didn't collapse beneath her, which seemed like a good thing. Kate walked across the table, jumping to the floor once she reached the end. She reached over the next table, grabbing Halley's styler in her palm. Then, she climbed on the first table again and dropping down to her spot beside Keith.

"It's a really good thing that Halley isn't on either side of you," he mused.

Kate blinked. "Why?"

"Because she would've yelled at you for standing on the tables," he responded. He grabbed Halley's styler from her palm and placed it in the pocket of his sweats. Kate remembered suddenly that he was without a styler. She wondered the reason why he took the styler. Was it a need to have a styler on him or was there something else there? Keith glanced up at Kate. "Where do you want to go next?"

The answer was Mr. Kincaid's classroom, which Keith refused to step inside. Kate found out why after opening the door. While in the day it was only occupied by students, the night seemed to bring a handful of Pokémon into his classroom. Kate wondered why but didn't have much time to think before the Pokémon swarmed towards her, fearful of her being in their safe space. Kate dodged them, looking around the room to find a styler on the bookshelf. She dodged the Bidoof and ducked under the Zubat to grab the left styler in her hand. Then, she ran past them and out the door, closing it behind her.

"Did you get it?" Keith questioned, looking tired.

"Yeah," she spoke. "Why are there so many Pokémon in Mr. Kincaid's classroom?"

Keith shrugged his shoulders as Kate placed the new styler in her pocket. "I don't know. They all seem to flock there for some reason. Janice lets them in at night and, for whatever reason, they go there. Ms. April and I talked about it once. She thinks it might be the scent of his hairspray or something."

Kate nodded her head and spoke, "Ms. April's room next."

Once they were safely inside the classroom, Keith gave her a vague hint which caused her to look in the right drawer of Ms. April's desk. Kate opened the drawer to reveal a green styler with _Keith_ carved into it and beneath that was a handful of items. She pulled out the styler, handing it to him, before glancing at the drawer one last time. She felt her eyebrows furrow. _Is that what I think it is, _she thought. Then, she reached out to grab a keychain that rested inside of the drawer.

The keychain was small, round and silver. On one side of it, there was a carving of a fire, a symbol she always drew in the upper right corner of her notes, and on the back was a similar carving but of a figure that looked like the dragon symbol on the Pokémon card game. Kate blinked. _Did he take it with him?_

Keith tapped her shoulder. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Kate lied, placing the keychain back in the drawer and closing it. She stood up, handing him his original styler. Keith took the styler from her, exchanging it for Halley's. Kate placed Halley's in her pocket and moved around the desk. Keith put his hand with the styler and reached out to grab her arm as she passed, stopping her from leaving the classroom. She glanced up at him, seeing his worry in his eyes. His hand was warm against her skin.

"You know, I can tell you're lying right?" he asked.

"I'm not lying," she lied again, though she didn't believe in it as much as she had previously.

"Whenever you want to talk about whatever it is you need to talk about," Keith started, looking down at her. Kate blinked up at him. Did she ever realize how much taller than her he was? He continued, "You can always come to talk to me." Kate felt her eyes wide, the shock of him not pushing her for information surprising her. Back in Fall City, she was so used to people digging for information about who she was and what was going on with her. Her parents were the worst at doing this. Now, here was Keith, who wasn't doing that? Keith raised an eyebrow and Kate blinked, brought out of her thoughts. "Got it?"

She felt like she couldn't say anything so she just nodded her head.

"Good," Keith spoke, releasing her arm and moving towards the hallway. Kate followed him while keeping her mouth shut. "We have one more styler to get before we can go to the basement. And, we better get moving. We have another fifteen minutes before Mr. Romeo comes and drags us back to bed by our ears."

…

The basement was creepier now that the final source of light was taken away. There were no windows in the basement. Upon realizing that there was no way for them to see where they were going without some source of light, Kate fished her styler out from her pocket. Instantly, she tightened her grip. The capture disc spun out wildly, landing on the floor, as the light from the rod illuminated the walls around them.

There was a sharp, piercing cry further inside of the basement. Kate felt the sharp chill down her spine as she frantically tried to identify the creature that the cry matched. But, all her years of memorizing Pokémon had failed her. She didn't know which Pokémon it was. Hell, she had a hard time thinking of anything other than the chill that passed in the air. Keith shook violently beside her, a frightened look on his features. She felt his fingers reach out to grasp her own. Turning towards him, she saw the bashful look on his face but understood what he meant by the action: he was terrified.

"Let's get this over with," he grumbled.

Kate nodded her head, not saying anything as she gripped his hand. He guided her through the basement, her styler emitting the only light that lit the basement hallways. Finally, after two left turns followed by an immediate right turn, she ended up in front of a plain and simple door. While the door was plain and simple, there was a sign on the door. It had bright, bold letters that simply read "KEEP OUT". Despite the warning, she bet that no one kept out of the basement and she was willing to bet that numerous people had tried to break into the room.

She might've.

"Put the stylers down here," Keith spoke, his voice now a whisper. Kate could hear voices on the other side of the door, talking amongst themselves. She simply nodded her head, detaching their fingers to pull the three stylers from her pockets. She placed them down on the floor beside the door and pivoted to take Keith's styler from his hands. The auburn-haired boy reluctantly handed over his styler and she placed it with the others.

"Alright," Kate whispered, standing up. "Let's go."

Then, suddenly, the shrieking, piercing cry returned. Only, this time it was different, a lot closer than the previous cry. Four Gastlys appeared in front of them, crying in their faces. The ghostly beings floated above them, bobbing up and down like madmen and shrieking in their faces. Keith cried out, "What the hell?!" as Kate shuffled backward. Her hand caught onto her styler which she left on the floor.

In a flash, she held up the styler and her capture disc ran wild. With every flick of her wrist, the capture disc spun around the target Pokémon. But, she found that the Pokémon seemed to know what she was doing, frequently popping in and out of the circles she created. It was even worse because Gastly had no real shape, composed of mostly poisonous gas. So, she decided to only focus on one of them at a time. So, she captured one. Then, she moved onto another. Then, she caught the third and then only the last one remained. The last one popped in and out more frequently, but soon, even he was captured. Her styler vibrated wildly, signaling a complete and successful capture of all four Gastlys.

Keith breathed in relief as she released the Ghost-type Pokémon. The four of them bobbed around the two student Rangers before disappearing into the darkness. Keith breathed in relief, "It was just a pair of Gastlys."

Then, suddenly, the door to the off-limits laboratory slid open, to reveal a fuming Kincaid. The two didn't let him begin to scream at them. Kate recalled her capture disc and the two of them took off running into the darkness, muscle memory taking them back to the stairs to the school. The two only breathed in relief once they were back in the moonlight and thankful that Mr. Kincaid didn't bother to chase after them.

Kate laughed. "That was fun." Keith began chuckling.

…

"Is everything alright, Mr. Kincaid?" Isaac questioned, barely glancing up from the work in front of him once the door slid back open.

Isaac was one of the tallest members in the current class of students. He stood out like a sore thumb among his classmates with his mushroom haircut and bright, blue eyes that always seemed to be in some far off distance. He was practically cut off from most of his classmates (the only person he really connected with was Keith, his roommate).

But, he had the brains of a scientist that had been at the job for years. He had perfected a technique which had taken a team of scientists ten years to even get off the ground. But, his work was going to save lives. He knew that. That's why he was here at the Ranger School was to save lives of not only Rangers but Pokémon as well.

He just knew it.

He just needed to find an appropriate power source for the damn thing.

"Yeah," Mr. Kincaid spoke, waving his hand through the air. "Just some Gastly causing trouble."

Isaac felt offended that Mr. Kincaid would assume that he was too focused that he would not recognize his roommate's voice when he had shouted: "What the hell?". But, the boy genius decided not to speak up about it and turned back towards his invention. He would simply get the story from Keith after lights out.

"You better get back to the rooms," Mr. Kincaid spoke, straightening his tie. Isaac glanced towards his teacher. "It's nearly time for your curfew to be in effect. We can work on this tomorrow." Isaac nodded his head, knowing that his teacher was right. If he didn't leave soon, he would be given detention or a warning at the very least (but Isaac has never had a warning in his life and he doesn't want to start now). The blonde grabbed his flashlight, leaving the project on his desk like he's done for the past couple of nights. "Goodnight, Isaac."

"Goodnight, Mr. Kincaid."

The blonde made his way outside of the laboratory, closing the door behind him. He looked around, spotting the four stylers on the ground. Without breaking his stride, he bent down, picking them all up in one motion and continuing the all-too-familiar path to the stairs. The Pokémon were so used to them that they didn't even flinch once his flashlight passed by them.

Once Isaac reached the second floor, he spotted Keith and Kate amongst the others. His roommate was talking adamantly about something or another as Isaac walked up, placing the four stylers onto the table without much of a hassle. Keith simply nodded towards him, too engrossed in the story to break the momentum. Kate was collapsed on a chair beside him. The blonde Operator bounced over to him, collecting her styler from the pile. She was dressed in a white sweater and a pair of shorts. "Thanks, Isaac," she beamed up at him.

Isaac blinked, feeling his cheeks heat up temporarily. "You're welcome," he replied, looking away from her. He didn't see any confusion in her features once he turned back around. She simply continued to smile at him.

"All right," Mr. Kaplan's voice boomed. The group turned to find the black-haired teacher stepping towards them. He was still dressed in the t-shirt of his typical uniform and the pair of denim jeans he wore today. He even had his cap on, though the bill was on the back of his head. Though, it was obvious that he was tired and ready to return home to his house in Vientown. "It is time for all of you to go to bed."

"Aww," Halley spoke, bouncing over to their teacher. "Come on, Mr. Kaplan, Keith was recounting the events of Kate's Test of Courage."

"He can finish his story in the morning," Mr. Kaplan spoke, defeated and exhausted. He pinched his nose as though he was trying to stop an invisible pain. "I don't need Principal Lamont yelling at me because I decided to break the basic rule of Ranger School 101: students in bed at 10. Now, go, all of you and stay there if you don't want to have Ms. April breathing down your neck. It's a very unpleasant experience"

Kate let out a laugh, bouncing on her feet.

"I'm sure it is," she joked, grabbing Rhythmi's hand and dragging her back to their shared bedroom on the opposite end of the suite. Isaac could swear that he could hear the two giggling even after the door was closed. The two Mechanics pulled their own stylers from the pile and moved towards their dorm. Isaac felt Keith's arm around his neck, pulling him towards their own and asking him how his meeting with Kincaid with. Isaac knew that Keith never understood what he said, but he appreciated that Keith always took the time to ask.

…

Mr. Kincaid loosened his tie.

He had been alone for nearly thirty minutes now. Curfew for the students had been enacted nearly 20 minutes ago. It was his turn to make sure that students stayed in bed. Kaplan and his girlfriend would likely be leaving the campus soon as the two of them had already stayed later than they should have. Kincaid didn't like that Principal Lamont was allowing them to date; but, if he wanted to deal with that emotional fallout, Kincaid wouldn't be around to see it.

The blonde teacher towered over the machine, looking it over with a sinister grin forming on his face. The papers from Isaac were spread out along the table and Kincaid looked them over with a grin on his face. It was amazing, he thought. An eighteen-year-old child had done more for this project in a month than a _team _of highly paid scientists had managed to do in a decade. They needed to do whatever possible to keep this kid.

With newfound motivation, Kincaid moved over to the corner of the room. He smirked when he heard the boards beneath his feet hollow out. He bent down, removing the boards and pulling out the small metal box. He opened it up, shifting the papers until he found the phone that he had been given. He flipped it open, dialing the number that he memorized so long ago so no one would stumble upon it.

"_Kincaid,"_ a voice gruffed on the other side. "_You better have a good reason to be calling me so late."_

"I'm sorry, Boss," Kincaid apologized. "But I am finally alone so I knew that I needed to check in with you for the week." He paused, glancing over at the machine. "It's not completed yet. But the student I've been talking to, he's managed to make a breakthrough on the project that the scientists have been working on for the past decade."

"_Really?"_

"Yes, sir," Kincaid spoke. "I think that Isaac will be an excellent and beneficial addition to the science division. With him, I think that we will be able to accelerate our plans to be within the next two years instead of the next five years."

"_That's excellent," _his boss spoke. Kincaid could tell he was grinning even through the phone. "_Do what you need to do to recruit him to our side, Kincaid."_ And, with that, the boss hung up the phone, leaving Kincaid with the dial tone for several moments before he was left in silence again.

For a moment, Kincaid sat on the floor as he thought about the one thing that could possibly keep Isaac from coming to their side: Keith. The auburn-haired troublemaker was Isaac's roommate and possibly one of his only friends. Isaac kept to himself. But even he had a connection with his roommate, who was annoying and pulling pranks and a general nuisance to the blonde teacher in the other classroom. And, Isaac valued Keith's opinion.

Kincaid thought back to what Isaac had said before he continued on the project, "Keith doesn't want me coming down here. I don't think he likes you very much."

Though Isaac was still coming down to the basement to work on the project, Kincaid worried that Keith would manage to get through to him eventually. It would spell doom for his meticulously calculated plans, and Kincaid's own position in the organization. He needed to make sure that the doubt was removed from Isaac's mind, but the only way to do that was to get rid of Keith. And, he couldn't do that.

Alone…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Kate and Kaplan fight while the students are assigned a project from Principal Lamont.


	4. Admiration

While the other members of Ms. April and Mr. Kincaid's classes were focused on a more advanced form of self-defense, Mr. Kaplan had Kate pulled aside for continued training on the more basic forms of self-defense. Her classmates had an additional month of weekly Friday sparring sessions that Kate was still trying to catch up on. As Ms. Claire had explained on the day of Kate's first sparring session, it would be naive of the Ranger School to send potential Rangers into the field with little training of how to defend themselves if they end up in a situation where they are attacked. So, the school had a special session with Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Claire every Friday where future Rangers, Operators, and Mechanics were taught self-defense.

It probably didn't help that there was something dark approaching the Rangers. And, they all knew it. Across the globe, even in far-off places like Alola and Johto, the amount of Pokemon disappearing just kept on escalating. It was frightening.

"Kate, pay attention," Mr. Kaplan chided after slamming her back against the blue mat for the fifth time this hour.

The brunette sighed heavily, pushing aside the fallen strands of her hair from her face as she pushed herself up off the blue mat. She glanced towards her other classmates, spotting that Keith and Rhythmi were facing off against one another. Keith, being taller than the blonde, should've been paired with someone like Isaac, but Ms. Claire was always talking about how they never know who they could potentially face and wanted to pair them up with matches that aren't so evenly matched in preparation for real-life events. Ms. Claire, a tall, black-haired woman that looked like the female version of Mr. Kaplan, was walking around the groups, helping them adjust when they needed to.

"Come on," Mr. Kaplan spoke, walking over to her, reaching out a hand to pull her up. She grabbed his hand and he quickly pulled her onto her feet. "Don't make me call you in tomorrow on our days off to catch you up on fighting because you aren't paying attention in class." Kate gave him a look and he simply chuckled to himself.

It had been two weeks since Kate had come to the Ranger Academy, two weeks since she made friends, and two weeks since Kate had accidentally discovered (with Keith) that Mr. Kaplan was in a relationship with Ms. April. She briefly wondered if she could use that for blackmail for not being called to the capture shed tomorrow. But, she knew that she needed to catch up on the self-defense training to become a good Ranger, the kind of Ranger that protects everyone, themselves included.

"How long have you been a teacher here?" she questioned.

"About four years," he responded, positioning himself in a defensive stance. He nodded and Kate started punching again. He blocked every single punch or kick she threw at him. "I was a Ranger before that. I was stationed in the Sinnoh region for a bit. I always thought it was quite beautiful there. But, there were so many instances where new Rangers would be recruited who caused more harm than good because they were simply recruited with no training. After a while, I decided to become a teacher to help new Rangers learn what they need to know." He reached out, catching her fist as she moved to punch him again and twisted. Then, with one expert move, she was flat on her back again.

She sighed.

"You're getting better," he remarked.

"Am I?" she asked, not believing a word he said.

"You are," he assured. He picked her back up off the floor and she sighed, heavily. He stepped closer to her, a mischievous grin on his face as he lowered his voice. "And, honestly, no one gets this in a few weeks, Kate," he spoke in an undertone. "You should've seen how many times I knocked your brother to the ground when he first started this."

Kate grinned despite herself, "I would've loved to see that."

"Are you ready to continue?" he questioned. "Or do you want to take a break? We've been going at this for an hour." Kate glanced up at the clock behind him before nodding her head. She walked off the mat, stumbling a bit. She leaned against the wall, sliding down until she sat on the floor and resting her head against the cool wall. She opened up her water bottle and took a long sip of the cold water. Mr. Kaplan moved to sit down beside her, grabbing his own water bottle from the floor as he did. "How is your project for Principal Lamont going?" Mr. Kaplan questioned.

She gave him a look.

Yesterday morning at breakfast, Principal Lamont had assigned his annual project. Both classes were involved and assigned them. Even Isaac. The project was graded by the principal himself, though he had been upfront that as long as the assignment was well-put-together and gives some insight on each of the members of the class. They had all weekend to do it and it was going to be turned in Monday morning at breakfast. It should've been easy if the person doing the project _really _wanted to be a Ranger, or Operator, or Mechanic.

It should've been easy.

But, Kate was struggling with it.

"I still don't even know who to pick," Kate responded. She ran a hand through the loose strands of her hair. "I mean, I could pick Wendy or Sven or even …" she trailed off, but swallowed, unable to go there. She hastily attempted to cover it up, "Or I could pick Spenser. I met him once while I lived in Fall City."

"I think you're overthinking it," Mr. Kaplan cut her off before she could continue. She glanced up at him, curious. "I've noticed that you tend to do that a lot." He took a sip of his water bottle and turned towards her. "Don't get me wrong. Thinking is not a bad thing especially when you are caught in the moment and trying to figure a way out of a sticky situation. But, Kate, I've noticed that you think about things more than you should."

Kate pulled her legs to her chest. "I've noticed," she mused.

"It's not a bad thing," Mr. Kaplan spoke, assuring her. "But, in some circumstances, it can be a bad thing. For example, you overthinking things is hindering your fighting ability." Kate glanced over at the dark-haired teacher as he stood up on his feet. "You're so busy thinking three steps ahead about how to knock me down that you forget to move your hand and I gain the upper hand."

Mr. Kaplan reached out towards her. Kate placed her water bottle on the ground before reaching out to grasp his hand. With one pull, he brought the brunette haired student to her feet and moved towards the mat. Kate redid her ponytail before following after him.

"So, right now, Katelyn Morrow," he spoke her name. But, it was almost completely covered by Brayden being slammed against the mat by a student in Kincaid's class. "Don't think. Just act."

Then, he readied himself into a defensive position while she followed suit. With only a moment's hesitation, she started delivering punches, only hitting the air around him until she dodged his right hook and followed suit with a punch that actually connected through. She only hit his shoulder, but it was the first solid punch that she had managed to hit on him that wasn't a complete accident or him simply giving her the shot. However, he took advantage of her surprise to sweep her feet from beneath her.

She landed on the mat with a heavy thump and a groan escaped her lips. "See," Mr. Kaplan informed her, crouching down beside her and placing his hands against his knees. "You're improving, Katelyn Morrow." For the first time in a while, the use of her last name made her smile.

…

"Hey Isaac," Kate greeted as she approached him sitting at the black table.

The genius eighteen-year-old was sitting at the furthest table from the entrance to the library. He was pouring over a machine no bigger than a laptop, fiddling with different mechanical parts within the machine as she approached. His normal pristine bowl cut was all messed up (but whether that came from the Friday morning combat training or his own frustration was still too early to tell) and his clothes were wrinkled. He barely glanced up when Kate approached and gave her a curt nod that signified that he was in the middle of deep concentration.

In the past month since her Test of Courage, she and Isaac had grown to become friends. They were very similar with analytical minds and a protective need over their younger sisters. Isaac found someone he could bounce ideas off of and someone who knew when to stop talking and let him think through the process in front of him. Kate found a new friend that she could help. It was nice and refreshing.

Kate didn't speak as she sat down in the chair opposite him, her back to the wall.

While Isaac worked, she glanced around the library. She spotted Halley, pouring over an instruction manual for the everyday styler, with her feet propped up in Brayden's lap as he fiddled with his own styler. She smiled at the sight of them. Ponte, the green-haired boy who fluctuated with what he wanted to do after graduation and the Ranger School's "self-proclaimed marshmallow bow", was standing at the bookshelves, shuffling books around on shelves. Even Keith was in the library, hiding amongst the shelves and taking a nap. She chuckled at the sight.

"Damn it!" Isaac snapped.

Kate looked up at her companion, who ran another frustrated hand through his hair which only proceeded to mess it up even further. Isaac collapsed in his seat, shoving his face into his hands and letting out a loud groan. He shoved the device away and Kate moved to catch it before it teetered off the side of the table. She placed it back on the table, turning it to face her and looked it over. It was an intricate piece of machinery that Kate wasn't for sure what it would do. She looked it over, trying to find the problem before realizing that there was no power source. She glanced over to the other parts he was fiddling with and realized they were possible power sources.

_Now, where would they go?_

"Don't bother," Isaac spoke. Kate glanced up as she reached across the table to grab one. "They are too big to fit in that small of a space." He reached across, pivoting the device so that they both could see it. He pointed to the vacant spot in the bottom right space of the machine. Kate glanced between the spot and the other power sources. He was right. "I need to figure out some other way to power it without having to make a whole new power source."

"You can always do what the stylers do," she responded, looking over the machine. "All stylers have two batteries: one that runs on power and one that can convert electrical shocks given off by Electric-type Pokémon into power." Isaac nodded his head. "What's this for anyway?"

"It's my independent study project," he responded, his voice tired and droopy. She wondered if he had gotten any sleep last night. "If I can get it working, it's going to be used to help Rangers evacuate Pokémon from high-risk areas like forest fires and volcanic explosions. It'll send out a signal to the Pokémon and tell them to evacuate the area. But, I can seem to find the right power source to get it to work…"

Kate nodded her head. "Well, it sounds like a great idea," she responded. "But, you seem to be trying to condense too many things. Do you have a larger prototype?"

Isaac shook his head. "It's based off a rather clunky design by another scientist," he spoke. "Mr. Kincaid thinks I can make some improvements with it to make it more mobile for Rangers and first responders. All I have to go on is blueprints and half-baked notes where the ink has faded."

Kate bit her lip.

"How's your project for Principal Lamont going?" Isaac questioned. Kate gave a huff and turned the device back towards her, trying to work the power sources into the slot. She knew that they didn't fit, but she didn't feel like answering the questions. "That bad?" he questioned, teasing working its way into his voice for the first time since she sat down.

"Yes," she spoke. "I figure you are already done."

He nodded his head as she placed the power source in her hand down and began feeling around for another one. "I already knew that I wanted to do something about Professor Hastings and I've basically been following in his footsteps since I decided I wanted to become a scientist for the Ranger Union so…" He handed her a power source after a few moments of blind searching. "Do you not know who you want to do?"

"There's just so many," Kate spoke, desperately trying to get the small cube of metal to fit in the slot. "I could do Wendy or Sven. Hell, I could even do Spenser. I met him once when I lived in Fall City." She placed the cube on the table and Isaac moved to hand her another one. "Plus, there are so many Rangers to choose from…" she trailed off, biting her lip. She thought of her brother and she hurried to push that thought from her head.

"What about your brother?" Isaac spoke, his voice suddenly quieter as she strained to hear him as Brayden and Halley began arguing. She moved to grab another power source. "I mean, he's a pretty well-known Ranger and has done a lot of good things in his time as a Ranger. It takes a pretty patient person to be able to train a Dragon-type Pokémon, especially as a partner Pokémon for a Ranger. Plus, I hear that he's done some pretty incredible stuff since he was promoted to Top Ranger."

Kate shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, Isaac, I feel like everyone probably expects me to do that. It seems almost like a cop-out, you know…" As though she got hit with a brick, her mind finally processed the words that he said and she glanced up at her blonde companion, who was looking over some notes from his notebook not realizing the panic that swept over his friend's expression. "Wait…," she spoke. Isaac glanced towards her. "I haven't told anyone about that."

"About what?" he questioned.

"About the fact that my brother is a Top Ranger," she responded.

"Oh," Isaac responded, glancing back at his notes. "I'm not surprised. You'd probably be treated like royalty or something. Keith certainly wouldn't pick on you anymore." He paled considerably as he thought about it. "Yeah, no definitely, if he finds out that the girl he … you know what? I'm just going to keep quiet."

She reached out, snatching his hand. "How do you know?" she questioned.

"Kate," he spoke. "You two look alike and have the same last name. Me being a genius has nothing to do with figuring out that the two of you are related."

Kate nodded her head, sighing heavily. "Please don't tell anyone." She glanced up at Isaac to see him nodding his head, reaching over to pat her shoulder. She knows that she doesn't need to explain to Isaac. He's too smart to not notice the pain that flashed across her face. But, she finds herself explaining anyways, "We just don't have the best relationship. I haven't even seen him since he left for the Ranger School. And, that was years ago."

Isaac nodded.

"I promise I won't tell anyone," he spoke. She nodded her head, giving him a watery smile. The blonde went back to his notes, scribbling on the pages, while Kate continued with trying to fit the small cubes into the slot. She thought they were done talking, then, "Who do you most admire?"

"Huh?" she spoke.

"It's not a trick question," Isaac responded, turning towards her. "Out of everyone in the world that you can choose from, who do you most admire?"

"My mom," Kate responded, almost instantly.

"Okay then," Isaac spoke, turning towards his notes again. "Now, who is the 'mom' of the Pokémon Rangers?" Kate thought about it and only one name came to mind: Chairperson Erma, the first Ranger. Isaac glanced up at her and he grinned at her, seemingly to realize that she came to the same conclusion. "Do your project on her."

Kate grinned. "Thanks, Isaac."

…

On Monday, Principal Lamont was collecting projects. Kate was the first to turn her project in and only because she was a faster walker than Isaac was. The principal glanced at the title of her essay and beamed up at her upon realizing who her project was over. He grinned at her, taking Isaac's paper once he approached. Though Isaac's essay was a lot thicker than Kate's was, she knew that part of it was from the fact that he went into more detail about the devices that Professor Hastings created.

Rhythmi did her project on Linda, the youngest Top Operator to date.

Keith did his on Spenser in the Fiore region.

Halley's project was over Elaine, who she called a whiz with mechanics and tearing things up.

Brayden's project was over a Mechanic in the Kanto Region, who doubled his Mechanic duties with helping Professor Oak on various tasks.

"Any luck?" Kate asked Isaac, who was still fiddling with the device.

"Nope," Isaac shook his head. "Mr. Kincaid says that he thinks he might have a power source for me, but it'll be a couple of months before it could possibly come in to fit." He shrugged his shoulders as she looked at the device.

"You can always try asking a Pichu or two for help," Kate spoke, resting her chin on her fist. "I mean, they love charging the stylers. They might be able to help you with charging the device to see if you can get it working."

Isaac nodded his head.

"What in the world are you guys talking about?" Keith questioned, suddenly. Kate turned towards Keith, who sat on her left. The Ranger-In-Training gave the two of them a look of confusion as the two of them glanced up at them.

Isaac gave him a look that bordered on teasing. "No reason to get jealous, Keith."

The red-haired boy flushed which only made Kate laugh. The redness of his cheeks hid the freckles on his cheeks. Her giggles on continued after he began speaking when his voice became higher pitched than normal, "Why would I be jealous?" Rhythmi glanced over confused and only getting a shrug from Isaac, who returned to fiddling with his device.

"Yo!"

Kate jumped in her seat. She towards the source of the shout, Mr. Kaplan, who stood on a chair by the stairs. It was breakfast time and too early for him to be making a ruckus over nothing. She glanced around, spotting the equally disgruntled faces of her classmates. But, they were all quiet as they turned to face Mr. Kaplan, who held a sheet of paper in his hands.

"Principal Lamont would like to speak to you about the upcoming Outdoor Class," he spoke, his voice still carrying across the large space with little ease. "And, please be attentive and quiet or else we will be doing another round of martial arts fighting today." He beamed at them. Kate's stomach dropped. Her back was still sore from Friday. Luckily, her classmates all seemed to agree from the way that they were quiet once Mr. Kaplan hopped down from the chair.

Principal Lamont carefully climbed on the chair.

"Good morning, everyone," the principal spoke, grinning at them all. The students watched him with silent anticipation, eager to hear the news and eager to get back to their conversations before class was going to officially start. "As I'm sure everyone is aware, Outdoor Class is only two more months away and the list has been finalized as to who will be attending." The dead silence now had a buzz of excitement. "So, let me read out the list and then you can talk amongst yourselves, understand?"

"Yes, Principal Lamont," they all parroted back to him.

"Alright," the principal spoke. "First things first: the Ranger Union sending a scientist to talk to all students who want to help the Union in terms of not only research but also upgrades. In addition, the Union has elected to send two Mechanics for our outdoor class: Cooper from Pueltown and Elaine from Vientown." Halley, who sat on the other side of Isaac, couldn't help the squeal that escaped her lips as she reached out to touch Brayden's arm. The principal gave her a warning look but a smile.

"As for Operators," he continued. "Mikayla of Boyleland is scheduled to make an appearance at the Outdoor class. And, Crawford from Vientown will be arriving alongside his mechanic, Elaine from Vientown."

The students clapped, ecstatic at the prospect of Outdoor class. The group assumed that he was done as Keith turned to talk to Kate and Isaac. But, then, Principal Lamont coughed and they realized with a start that he wasn't quite done.

"In addition," he spoke, a smile threatening to form. "The Ranger Union also has a treat for the upcoming graduating class. For the first time in Ranger School history, the Ranger Union feels like it's important for soon-to-be graduates to see not only where they will be but also what they could become. So, the Ranger Union has decided to send three of the best people in their own respective fields."

Principal Lamont glanced back towards the sheet, the room buzzed in excitement, but everyone missed the worried look that Kate directed towards Isaac.

"As a result," Principal Lamont spoke. "The Ranger Union is sending Top Mechanic Oliver for our Mechanics to talk to about the possibilities in front of them. The most recent appointed Top Operator, Linda, to talk about the Top Operators throughout the regions, and, lastly, the newest Top Ranger, Kellyn, to speak with our Rangers about the various challenges set through the region. Now, of course, the three of them have agreed to answer any questions that you might have. Make sure that you have all your questions ready by the time that they arrive!"

And, just like that, the room buzzed in excitement. All the students were talking about the fact that the Ranger Union was sending out the best of the best their Outdoor Class. The teachers moved to talk to one another. Keith moved over to one of the other Rangers in Mr. Kincaid's classroom. Rhythmi talked excitedly with Halley over the news (though, honestly, Halley was more excited about Elaine than the Top Mechanic).

But, no one seemed to realize that Kate wasn't excited. She was terrified, her stomach swirling as she tried to figure out what she was going to do, and she glanced around the room, all of her excitement for the Outdoor Class suddenly drained from her body. Isaac looked over at her nervously.

Kate reached out towards him beneath the table. She felt her hand touch Isaac's knee. For a moment, she froze. She wondered if he was going to reject him, thinking it was something else when it really wasn't. Her sister, Kelsei, always did the same gesture whenever she was frightened or scared.

And, she figured that Melody, Isaac's little sister, did the same thing because he didn't hesitate before slipping his hand into hers and returning her iron grip with the same amount of comfort and assurance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Kate and Rhythmi (and the rest of the class) are on the hunt to prove Keith's innocence from Mr. Kincaid accuses him of stealing some of the school stylers from the Teacher's Lounge. Meanwhile, Outdoor class is approaching and Kate is still reeling from the information about Kellyn being a guest speaker..


	5. Styler Thief

It was a bright and sunny day on a rather dull Wednesday morning. From the few windows that breathed sunlight into the classroom, Kate spotted numerous Starly flying by the window, chirping in the early morning. She even spotted a Squirtle, resting beneath the shade of the tree who occasionally spit water towards the birds. They fluttered away but eagerly returned once the water-type wasn't threatening them with water anymore. It went on numerous times until the Pokémon gave up and headed off towards the ocean.

She let out a heavy sigh, crossing her legs at her ankles and leaning back in her seat. She sent a nervous glance towards the clock and found that she still had a few minutes before she needed to pay attention to Ms. April.

It had been two weeks since the announcement of the Rangers, Operators, and Mechanics (and one scientist) that were going to be coming for the Outdoor Class. And, one of the visitors was her elder brother, Kellyn, who she hadn't seen since he left to attend the Ranger School himself. The school was still abuzz with excitement about the visitors, talking excitedly between classes and in the lull of homework assignments. Despite the fact that the news was announced a while ago, Rhythmi and Halley were still talking about Linda and Elaine respectively. And, still, no one seemed to realize what (or who) was the cause of Kate's recent downturned mood (though Rhythmi and Keith have commented on her down demeanor, she noticed).

But, still, none of the other students knew the true cause except for Isaac.

Her genius friend (and Keith's roommate) seemed to be more worried about her as the Outdoor Class quickly approached. He didn't try to get her into talking about it and simply tried to distract her with helping him with his power source problem on his device. She was thankful for the hour that they hung out together before Isaac went into the basement. It was the only hour in the day that she could get some peace and quiet and not think about the growing, daunting aspect that was the upcoming Outdoor Class.

_What am I going to do, _she thought, placing her hands into her pockets.

"The amount of trust and communication that is present between Rangers and Operators is essential to the foundation of any Ranger base," Ms. April spoke, suddenly. Kate jumped from her seat, her eyes going towards the wall and the clock. Sure enough, it was time for class to begin and she had been too caught up in her own thoughts to notice it. "While there is generally only one Operator per Ranger base, that Operator helps guide the Rangers of the base through difficult missions and is the center of the communication while Rangers are in the field. That Operator is in charge of not only charging stylers but also giving advice and helping guide Rangers through difficult areas."

Ms. April moved towards her desk, leaning against the wood with one hip.

"And, what is the method of communication that is generally used between Rangers and their Operators?" Rhythmi's hand was in the air before she even finished the question. "Yes, Rhythmi?"

"It's called voicemail," the blonde-haired girl spoke, excitedly, practically bouncing out of her seat as she spoke.

"That is correct," Ms. April spoke, crossing her arms across her chest. "The voicemail communication feature is used by all levels of Rangers and Operators. Top Operators use this feature to communicate with all bases as well as the Rangers that they are assigned. In addition, Ranger Leaders use this function alongside their Operators to communicate with one another. Even Mechanics use it from time to time. If voicemail was not invented, Rangers and Operators and even Mechanics would be left without the possibility of a vital communication system. It's an important function and aspect in a Ranger's and anyone's day-to-day life."

Ms. April paused, looking at each and every one of them. Kate realized that her eyes rested on the seat to Kate's right. She turned to find that Keith's desk that he always occupied was completely empty. She furrowed her eyebrows, glancing at the clock again. It was true that Keith was always a couple of minutes late. But, he was never over three or four minutes late. It had almost been ten.

"Unfortunately," she picked up, resting her hands against the desk. "This important feature is the one aspect that we are unable to show you, for a variety of reasons." Kate presumed that they were all Keith related. Ms. April stood up and walked around to the back of her desk. "But, mostly, because your school stylers are not equipped with this function. Which is why, when Principal Lamont went to the Ranger Union last week, he requested to borrow these."

Ms. April opened a drawer from the desk, fetching out a pair of bright red stylers from the depths of the drawer. Kate felt her eyes widen. _A real Styler._

"In an effort to teach you the voicemail function, Principal Lamont and I thought it would be a good idea to show you the feature so you have some sort of exposure to the feature before you end up in the field," Ms. April spoke. "So, for the first part of today's lesson, we are going to using this communication function to demonstrate how to use it. Then, we will talk about the numerous benefits that this system brings to the lives of Rangers."

"Yes, Ms. April," the class spoke, giggling with excitement. Kate watched Ms. April look past the brunette girl and see her mouth quirk questionably. The pigtailed-girl looked to the seat beside her and saw it was empty. _Keith isn't here_, she noted before glancing at the clock. Hmm, it's over ten minutes… Keith normally always walked in one or two minutes late. But, he was never this late.

"Oh well," Ms. April didn't seem too worried about the absence as she approached Rhythmi, handing one of the stylers. Rhythmi picked up the bracelet that Ms. April gave her and clipped it beside her other one. "I was going to have Keith play the part of the Ranger. But, since he's missing, Kate, do you mind taking up the role?"

"Of course not," Kate supplied. Ms. April handed her the other bracelet and Styler. Kate clipped the bracelet around her right wrist and then the styler buzzed wildly.

Rhythmi's voice filled the class before Kate even reached for the bright red styler. "Voicemail! Voicemail! Oh… I can hear you just fine from across the room…" the yellow-haired Operator trailed off and looked thoughtful. Kate was already standing up from her chair.

"I'll go in the hallway," Kate spoke to Ms. April.

And, that's where Kate was nearly twenty minutes later. Rhythmi had kept the bracelet on after being unable to get it undone. So, Rhythmi was just circulating around the classroom, showing the other classmates how to activate the voicemail and letting them press the buttons to talk to Kate. The girl with two pigtails was sitting on the floor, her legs crossed beneath her when Mr. Kincaid rounded the corner and looked down at her.

"What are _you _doing?" he snapped.

"Sitting on the floor?" she spoke, furrowing her eyebrows. "Ms. April was showing us how to use voicemail on stylers so I was the one sitting outside." She stood on her feet in an effort to not feel like a bug trapped under the shoe. But, even standing at full height, it did little to restore Kate's confidence in herself. Mr. Kincaid looked at her like she was worse than the wallpaper in the school and the worst of the worst in terms of people. Kate swallowed. "Is something wrong, Mr. Kincaid?"

"Is Keith here?" he questioned.

"What?" Kate blinked. "No, he's running late."

Mr. Kincaid scoffed. "As I thought."

"What?" she questioned, gripping the styler.

"About thirty minutes ago, an entire batch of stylers was taken from the staff room. Your _friend_ was heard shouting a few minutes afterward and I saw him fleeing the building," he spoke. The way he said the word made Kate feel uncomfortable and she suddenly wished she was in the classroom. "He's uncharacteristically later than he usually is. Maybe he's late because he's trying to find a place where he can stash the stylers."

Before Kate could even open her mouth to prove how wrong he was, the door to the classroom slammed open. In the doorway was Rhythmi, who was giving the blonde teacher a glare that might've been capable of setting him on fire. "What? Keith may be a prankster, but he isn't a thief!" Kate glanced down, realizing that she had somehow managed to grip the styler and activated the voicemail. The class was behind the fuming Rhythmi with only Ms. April managing to make it into the hallway.

Mr. Kincaid let out a huff. "Keith runs in the hallways-"

"_Everyone _runs in the hallways," Kate snapped back.

"And, he sneaks into the basement when he's not permitted!"

"Everyone does that too!" Kate spoke, her voice in unison with Rhythmi's.

"It's only a natural that Keith is viewed as suspicious!" Mr. Kincaid finished, ignoring anything that either girl had spoken. Ms. April gave her a look as though to validate what the girl had spoken and Kate felt relieved that at least _someone _was listening.

Ms. April gave him a look as she crossed her hands over her chest. "Mr. Kincaid," the brunette teacher spoke, her voice calm and collected which contrasted with her eyes that looked ready to argue to the bitter end. "But, aren't you going the _opposite _of what you typically preach? Aren't you casting suspicion on someone without any real proof?" Mr. Kincaid turned towards her, his jaw steeled shut as he glared at her too. Kate could tell that he was getting nervous. "May I have a little time?" Ms. April asked nicely, though Kate could hear the weight behind the comment. "I'll go look for Keith and your missing stylers."

"I will too!"

"Me too!"

"I'll look in the common room!"

Mr. Kincaid looked at each of them, his eyes glaring through them like he would've been completely fine if they had all suddenly fallen to the ground. However, he didn't move. In fact, he didn't even bother answering Ms. April back. The blonde teacher let out a huff and turned, leaving towards the Staff Room. Ms. April pushed after him with a determined move to her steps and the other students around her dispersed to their various lookout spots for Keith. Rhythmi marched up to Kate.

"We'll find him," Rhythmi assured her.

Kate nodded her head, clutching at the red styler in her hand. They still had their respective stylers. "I'll check his dorm."

"I'll check outside."

"Voicemail if you find anything."

"Got it."

...

Kate really needed to remind Keith (or Isaac) to lock the door.

The door had been left unlocked and it was surprisingly clean for two boys cramped in a small space. She briefly wondered if that was Isaac's doing or Keith's doing. The two beds were made and finely kept, sheets tucked in at the corners. Clothes were off the floor and in their respective laundry baskets. The only unkept thing in the room was the desk at one of their beds and a quick look at the papers on it quickly let her know that it was actually Isaac's desk. No help in finding Keith there, she thought.

The door opened. She jumped.

It was Isaac.

"Is it true?" he questioned, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. There was a rule about girls being in the boys' dorm. There was also a rule about them being in the dorm while class was (technically) in session. But, the reputation of their friend was (at the moment) more important than the potential rules that they were breaking. "Does Mr. Kincaid really think that Keith stole stylers?" he questioned. Something seemed to have caught his eye before he stopped as he opened his mouth and glanced at the bed on the right. His face scrunched up. "I told him to stop making my bed once I leave."

"Yeah," Kate spoke. "Apparently, he heard him yelling and saw him fleeing outside. When he checked the Staff Room, he saw that there were stylers missing. Guess, he assumed that Keith was the one that stole the stylers."

"I mean," Isaac spoke, looking thoughtful. "Given the circumstances only, it's perfectly plausible why he would jump to that conclusion. But, when taking his character into consideration, there's no way he could've done this. He plays pranks and runs in the hallway and sleeps in the library at lunch and occasionally turns in his homework at the last possible time and is _shockingly _protective. But, all of those and thievery are two different sides of the coin."

"But," Kate spoke, crouching down to peer under the bed. His shoes were gone, she noticed, so he was definitely was on his way down to the classroom whenever something deterred him. "To Mr. Kincaid, those are on the same side." When she glanced up at him, she saw that Isaac was nodding his head to himself. She stood up, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She didn't know what it is, but she had a bad feeling about this. In fact, if she had been with anyone else, she would've spoken up about the obvious hatred that Mr. Kincaid had for Keith.

_Why?_

The red styler that she had placed on Keith's desk buzzed wildly. Kate jumped and Isaac's eyes darted over to it. Rhythmi's voice flooded from the speaker. "Voicemail! Voicemail! Kate, do you come in? Have you had any luck finding Keith in his room?"

Kate scrambled to pick up the red styler. She pressed the button on the side of the device and spoke into the designated microphone, "Yeah, Rhythmi, I'm here in his dorm with Isaac. He isn't here and he isn't in the common room."

Isaac made a gesture and Kate handed over the radio, her finger still on the button. "Hey, it's Isaac, I just came from the library and heard from Halley about what happened. He hasn't been in the library at all today."

Kate's lifted her finger off the button. The speaker was briefly filled with the obnoxious form of static before there was a click. Then, Rhythmi's voice filtered through the speaker once again with a surprisingly uplifting cheer in her tone, "That's okay, I think I might have an idea about where he went! How fast can you two get outside?"

Kate looked at Isaac, who was already starting to move towards the door. "Be there as quick as we can." She shut off the styler, clicking off the voicemail, and moved to follow the mushroom haired boy outside the dorm.

…

"Rhythmi!" Kate spoke, pushing open the door to the school. She held it open for Isaac before jogging over to Rhythmi's spot. The girl turned towards the two of them with a hopeful look on her face. Beside her, Janice stood, dressed in her normal brown dress with a messy white apron around her waist. In her hands, there was a green styler. She looked at both Isaac and Kate as she approached. "Hey, Janice, what's that?"

"Did either one of you lose your stylers?" Janice questioned the two of them. Kate glanced towards Rhythmi. Every student of the Ranger school got stylers, including other branches such as Operators and Mechanics. Isaac even had a styler. Beside her, he pulled the green out of his pocket to show it to her. Janice's face furrowed as she looked at them. "No… looks like it isn't yours."

"Where did you find that Janice?" Kate questioned.

"Yeah," Isaac spoke up. "Mr. Kincaid has been talking about stolen stylers." Janice's eyebrows rose up and her eyes went wide. Isaac blinked in confusion, the gears turning in his head. "Did you not know about that?" he questioned, confused. Kate glanced towards Rhythmi.

"No, I haven't heard anything about that!" Janice informed them. Kate nodded her head, glancing towards Isaac who looked towards her. They both seemed to have the same idea. She definitely sounded like she was telling the truth about being unaware of stolen stylers. _Why would Kincaid not tell the caretaker to be on the lookout for someone with stylers?_ "I better get this back to him and see if this is one of the stylers that he talked about."

And, with that, Janice hurried back inside the school. The door swung shut behind her.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Isaac questioned Kate. The brunette was pretty sure that she wasn't thinking what Isaac was thinking.

"Is it that someone was headed outside with the stylers and dropped one?" Rhythmi responded before Kate had the chance to make something up.

Isaac glanced over at her, a brief look of surprise on his face. "Yes, actually."

Rhythmi donned a smug expression and a playful grin. "You don't have to be a boy-genius to figure that one out, Isaac."

His cheeks almost instantaneously flushed. He quickly avoided her gaze as if that would somehow stop her from seeing the red tint to his cheeks. Rhythmi glanced towards Kate, a bewildered expression on her face. Kate absentmindedly nodded her head and Rhythmi gave her a weak smile in response. The blonde turned to look around the yard as though inspecting it for more clues.

Kate bit her lip.

She thought was that if someone had stolen the stylers from the Staff Room, their first stop should've been Janice, who always patrols the grounds in the morning tending to the Bidoof in the clearing a bit out of the way. It was a routine and she always did the same thing at the same time for the same amount of time. So, if someone knew the caretaker's routine schedule, it would've been easy for them to tell someone when to come in and how to avoid her. And, anyone who knew Keith would know that he would chase after someone if he caught them stealing.

She knew that Rhythmi would object to the idea of any teacher being capable of trying to frame Keith. And, Isaac would definitely object to it because he knows Mr. Kincaid so well. So, for now, Kate kept her idea to herself.

"Look!" Rhythmi spoke, taking off.

Without really thinking, Kate followed her down the walkway, across the Ranger symbol cut into the grass, and to another discarded styler that lay in the middle of the walkway. Kate bent down to pick it up. She turned it over in her hands and let out a breath. "This isn't one of the stolen ones," she informed the others.

"What?" Rhythmi questioned. "How do you know?"

"It's got Keith's name etched into it," she informed the blondes, turning the styler so that they could see Keith's handwriting. "When I found Keith's styler during the Test of Courage, I saw the carving."

Isaac nodded his head in understanding. "He knew that you'd know that and that we'd follow them." He pointed towards the stairs going down to the Square. Kate turned and spotted another styler in plain view yet slightly hidden in the grass. "Whoever stole the stylers tried to lead the trail towards the Square. Keith must've caught them and knew what he was trying to do so left his styler so we'd know which way to go."

Kate nodded.

"I hear voices," Rhythmi spoke, quietly. Kate listened and thought that she might've heard a brief sound of someone before the wind picked back up again. Damn, she thought, Rhythmi must have sensitive hearing. "Come on, I think one of them is Keith!" She moved down the stairs, quickly, and Isaac moved to follow. Kate stood and took the stairs two at a time.

…

"Keith!"

Kate glanced over the railing of the stairs and was relieved to see Keith. He was face-to-face with a man who wore a pristine white trenchcoat and stood in the shade of the giant oak tree just inside the school grounds. Keith looked like he had just rolled out of bed and ran a marathon with the way his button-up was untucked and his hair was messed up. But, he looked angry. The man opposite him was nothing special. He wore a white trenchcoat like he was a scientist, coupled with a pair of glasses and his hair combed down. He had a tan bag over his shoulder which he seemed to be guarding.

But, the man looked bothered that they managed to show up.

Once Kate was close enough, she leaped over the railing, landing on her feet with ease. She jogged over to Keith's position as soon as her feet hit the grass. Rhythmi was right behind with Isaac on her tail, both having taken the rest of the stairs. "What are you doing here?" Rhythmi questioned, glancing towards the man. "Is that the thief?!"

"Yes," Keith sneered. "The guy's a stinking thief! When I came downstairs to head to class, I spotted him leaving the school. And, I found a styler in the hallway! When I confronted him, he bolted and I followed him down here!" Rhythmi turned towards the man, giving him a glare. For a moment, she thought she might've even seen a glare on Isaac's features.

Once all four of them were looking at the man, he looked positively frightened.

"Four on one's not fair!" the man spoke, his voice and body practically shaking. "I'm scramming!"

Then, several things happened at once. The man turned to leave and Keith reached out to grab the bag. In an effort to get away, the bag slid off his shoulders and the bag opened up to reveal the stolen stylers. The man, unaware of this, continued running. And, all of them saw the path that he was taking. "Wait!" Kate shouted.

But, they were too late.

In his effort to flee, he wasn't looking where he was going and ran into the bark of a giant oak tree.

And, a Slakoth dropped from the branches. The sloth had tumbled from the branches and landed on the thief, knocking them both to the ground. As he went down, the thief hit his head against a giant root and knocked his arm against the trunk of the tree. The Pokémon must've been woken up from a nap and subsequently lost and confused at where he was because he immediately started lashing out, scratching everything around him. Including the thief.

"Serves you right! That's what you get for being a thief!" He collected the stylers from the ground as Kate watched. "Come on, let's leave him. Who cares about a guy like that?"

Rhythmi slugged Keith (almost violently) in the shoulder. Kate jumped and Isaac simply looked surprised at the girl. Rhythmi wasn't typically a violent person. "I can't believe you, Keith! That guy is being mauled by a Slakoth and you are willing to walk away from him!" Rhythmi grabbed the front of Keith's uniform and brought him closer to her as if he wasn't threatened enough. "Besides, you idiot, it's the Ranger's job to help people who are in need! Not, just people who fit your moral bubble of who is right or wrong!"

Kate stepped around the fighting duo, slipping her styler from the belt buckle and sending out the capture disc. Isaac gave her a questionable gaze as he tore his eyes away from the fight and trying to pull them apart.

"He's a stinking thief, Rhythmi!" One loop.

"He's also a person!" Two.

"He is the one who ran into the tree and knocked down the Slakoth from the tree!" Three.

"Because you backed him into a corner!" Four.

"In case you've forgotten, I don't have my styler on me!"

"Then, use mine!" And, six. The styler buzzed wildly in her grasp. With a simple flick of her wrist, the capture disc zoomed to her styler, clicking into place. The Slakoth was momentarily stalled, glancing around to get control of his surroundings. His defensive measures stopped on the thief as soon as the sixth loop was completed. Even the tree had managed to get a piece of the Slakoth's confusion. The sloth's gaze moved towards Kate, who kneeled beside him.

"See?" Kate spoke to the creature, who glanced up at her as she petted his head. She had no idea if the creature knew what she was saying, but from the way he leaned into the palm of her hand, he understood that she was a person who wasn't going to hurt him. "You're okay. You are not in any danger now."

The creature glanced down towards the thief that he fell on top of. The brunette spotted the tears forming in his eyes. He had hurt someone even in self-defense.

"Don't worry. He's going to be okay," she informed the creature, who blinked at her confused. "Come on, let me have a good look at him and I'll help him." She reached out towards Slakoth, picking him up and moving him off the man's chest. The creature didn't move from where she placed him as she assessed the damage that had been afflicted to his chest. The creature was worried about him. In terms of life-threatening injuries, the thief didn't have any. He was scratched wildly with a lot of marks. But, only a handful of them broke through the skin. In fact, there were only two of the many scratches that were bleeding. The scratches themselves weren't deep.

Though, she thought as she undid her tie, he needed a new shirt.

The man let out a groan as she pressed her tie against one particularly nasty wound that was bleeding. It was easily the deepest one.

"Are you okay, sir?" she questioned.

"Yes," the man spoke. "I don't think his claws were sharp."

"Your lucky day," she remarked. Slakoth inched towards her, climbing up on her leg as though to see the damage he caused. "You'll be sore for a few days but you don't have any life-threatening injuries." The man moved to sit up, his hand reaching up to take the tie from her hand and apply pressure to the wound. Kate sat back and beamed at Slakoth. "See, he's fine!" The Pokémon turned towards the thief as though to confirm and the thief gave him a smile.

Slakoth wound it's arms around Kate's neck as she stood to her feet. Kate turned towards her friends to see both Keith and Rhythmi looking at her with wide eyes. Isaac simply gave her an amused look as he walked to the thief, crouching down in front of them and presumably checking him for a concussion. How Isaac knew that… well, Kate stopped being surprised at how much knowledge the boy had stored in his brain.

"What?" Kate questioned her friends, holding onto the Slakoth, who simply gripped to her. Rhythmi gave her a smile, a proud one, which Keith looked at her with a smile, a soft one. He reached out towards the Slakoth, who simply let the boy pet him. Keith told the creature his apologies for not coming to his rescue. While Keith talked, Kate glanced towards the giant tree. How was she going to get him back to his tree? The only way she could think of was climbing up, but she didn't think she could do that while holding onto the Pokémon.

"What's going on here?" Ms. April demanded, her heels clicking against the stone of the stairs as she moved towards them. Mr. Kaplan was a step behind her. Ms. Claire, who was also with them, moved ahead of her, stepping off of the stairs and rushing towards Isaac and the thief. She carefully pulled the tie back to assess the damage of the scratches before talking to Isaac. After the two talked, Ms. Claire started checking the thief for a concussion.

Once he stepped off the stairs, Mr. Kaplan made a beeline towards Kate and the Slakoth. Once he was close enough, he reached out towards the claws at the back of Kate's neck. As though sensing Kate's trust in the man, the sloth let him take his claw and look it over. After a heartbeat, Mr. Kaplan smiled down at the creature, a smile that almost looked like it could break his entire face. "You seem to have put up quite the fight! I bet you were really scared when you fell from the tree." The sloth blinked, then nodded slowly. Mr. Kaplan made a motion towards the tree. "Come on, let's get you back up there to get some more sleep."

He stared at the tree, before abruptly turning towards her. "I'm going to lift you up there, Kate. I'm not tall enough to put him up there all by myself."

"Alright."

Mr. Kaplan bent down, his hat falling off his head as he did. His arms wrapped around Kate's knees and he moved so she could sit on the muscle of his shoulder. As he stood up with her, she wobbled on his shoulder. She gripped onto his other shoulder for support and stability. She vaguely heard Ms. April talking to Keith and Rhythmi in her 'teacher' voice as she worked to keep stable. The Slakoth simply clung to her as though he wasn't bothered by the move. "You good?" Mr. Kaplain questioned, moving slowly towards the tree.

Kate nodded before she realized that he couldn't see her non-verbal response. "Yeah, I'm good," she offered. Once Mr. Kaplan had stopped, Kate grabbed onto Slakoth's sides and lifted him towards the branches. The creature unwound his arms from her neck and reached up to wrap his arms around the branch. At first, only his front claws linked together, leaving him dangling in front of Kate. Then, he pulled his body up to wrap his bottom feet around the branch too. He craned his head to beam at Kate before moving and disappearing higher up the tree.

Once her feet were back on the ground, she sighed with relief. "Afraid of heights?" he questioned.

She shook her head. "I was more afraid of falling over."

Mr. Kaplan let out a laugh. "Don't worry, I would never let a student fall and bust their head." He dropped down towards the thief. The two siblings exchanged glances with one another. Ms. Claire nodded her head and Mr. Kaplan grinned, wrapping an arm around the thief. "Come on. Let's get you to the shed. We need to make sure that those wounds aren't infected before we let you go."

The man blinked up at him. "Huh? Let me go?"

"What?!" Keith shouted.

"Yeah," Mr. Kaplan spoke. "It all depends on what you tell her though." He jetted his thumb over his shoulder towards Ms. April, who moved to stand at his feet. She crouched down in front of him and moved to pull him to his feet while Mr. Kaplan braced his back. "Come on, let's go."

"Rhythmi, Isaac," Ms. April spoke, her voice stern towards the students who wandered off. "Can you please go and get Mr. Kincaid and bring him to the shed? I've already contacted Principal Lamont and he's on his way back from the Ranger Union. We will discuss the matter there." She turned towards Keith and her eyes flickered over to Kate at the tree. "Kate, you take Keith back to his dorm to keep an eye on him and calm him down."

"Yes, ma'am."

"What?" Keith questioned.

Kate took his arm and dragged him towards the stairs. "Come _on_," she spoke, tugging on his arm when he resisted. He looked towards her and quickly followed her up the stairs.

…

"This is so stupid! He was a thief!"

Kate lounged on Keith's bed as the red-haired individual paced around the length of his dorm room. Keith walked from one wall to the desks and back around, throwing his arms around in the air as he talked about the thief for the third time in the past fifteen minutes. Kate watched him walk from one place to another then back before retracting the same path once again. After a few more times, Keith stopped, pivoted towards her, and questioned, "Are you even listening to me?"

"Yes," she responded to him, stretching out across his bed and propping her feet against the footboard. "He's a thief. This is so stupid. And, you are mad at Ms. April for possibly letting the thief go." She cocked her head to the side as she looked over at him. "Did I miss anything?"

"No," he spoke, disgruntled. He sat down on his bed, his back rubbing up against her legs, and ran a hand through his hair. "I thought you were supposed to be calming me down. You aren't doing a very good job at that."

She chuckled, sitting up. She kicked off her shoes and crossed her feet beneath her. "I've known you for a while now, Keith," she spoke, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "And, in that time, I've figured out that the easiest way to calm you down, is to let you talk yourself out of it."

He let out a scoff. "Gee, thanks," he spoke.

"You're welcome!" Her hand slid down his arm, stopping at his elbow. "Besides, you need to learn that sometimes, there are moments as a Ranger where you need to look away. If he comes back and tries to do it again, then you can take him into the authorities. And, that sometimes, it's better to leave the bickering until later."

"Yeah," Keith stumbled. "You moved so quick. We didn't even notice until the capture was over."

Kate nodded her head. "Do you want to know a secret?" she questioned.

"What?" Keith questioned.

"I didn't move that fast because of the thief. I was moving fast because of that Slakoth. He was terrified from falling out of the tree and he was simply trying to defend himself. And, the _moment_ I managed to calm him down, he was terrified because he had seen what he had done to that man and he was so worried about that thief." She crossed her arms, placing her elbows on her knees as she looked up at him. "That Pokémon, that's why I moved so quickly. I couldn't have cared less about that thief. I was too worried about the Pokémon."

"I wish I could say the same," Keith spoke. He pulled his eyes away from her. "I wasn't thinking about how the Pokémon was feeling or how the man was feeling. I was thinking about how the guy was a thief and how a thief deserved what had gotten to him." He bit at his lip nervously, pulling at the skin with his teeth.

Kate nodded her head because she agreed. He was right. "You're right," she spoke, blunt. "You weren't thinking of the Pokémon involved or of the man being injured." She cocked her head to the side and looked over at him. "But," she added, both for herself and for him. "I bet you'll think of them next time, right?"

"Yeah," he spoke.

"We're here to learn and the only way we can learn is through making mistakes," Kate continued as she wound her fingers together. "Besides, I believe that I know you pretty well. And, I bet that if that Slakoth had given that man a more serious wound, you would've been spurred to actually capture that Slakoth and I would've been the one tending to his wounds."

"Hopefully," Keith remarked.

"Hey," Kate spoke. Without thinking, she raised her hand to touch the side of his face and he looked over at her. "You've always been so confident of your abilities to become a Ranger. Don't let one mistake make you lose faith in your abilities."

For a moment, Keith simply stared at her. His eyes were searching hers, looking for something among her own blue eyes. Then, his hand raised like he was going to move towards her. She paused, for a heartbeat, then his hand moved towards the hand that was still resting against his cheek. He wrapped his fingers around her fingers before bringing their joined hands down on his lap. "Thank you," he spoke. "I've always got something else to learn from you."

"I can still learn a few things from you too," Kate replied.

Keith chuckled. "Yeah, right, you're like the second smartest person at this school," Keith replied.

Kate let out a laugh that almost sounded like she was exhaling a breath. She looked down at their joined hands, which rested on his knee. His finger slid along the back of her gloved hand. For a few heartbeats, they sat still. Then, Kate leaned forward, pressing her forehead against his shoulder and resting there. Keith adjusted his shoulder so that both of them were comfortable. She felt the weight of his head on her own and felt his hand squeeze. She mirrored him and opened up her fingers. His fingers intertwined with hers. She closed her eyes and leaned further against his shoulder.

Her red styler buzzed loudly. "_Voicemail, voicemail, is Kate there?_" Mr. Kaplan's voice drifted through the speaker. "_Can Kate come to the styler? Please, and thank you._"

Without lifting her head, Kate reached around towards the voice, grabbing the red styler. She raised it up to her mouth and pressed the button to respond. "Calm down, I'm here. I completely forgot I had this styler, to be honest," Kate replied back.

Mr. Kaplan's laugh echoed through the speaker. Keith's shoulder vibrated from his own silent laugh. "_Well," _Mr. Kaplan spoke. "_If you do not mind, come down to the Staff Room with Keith and the styler to return it. Principal Lamont wants to talk to all four of you about what happened today."_

"Okay," Kate replied into the speaker. "We'll be there in a bit." She shut off the voicemail and tried to lift her head, only to find that Keith's was still resting against her own. She poked his side. "Keith, we gotta go."

"Yeah, I know," he replied, more to himself than to her as they both rested there. "But, I'm always five minutes late to anything anyway. So, we've got a few minutes. Don't want to ruin my reputation."

Kate let out a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: It's Outdoor Class time and the students (minus one) couldn't be more thrilled at the prospect of not only meeting Rangers/Operators/Mechanics but also the best in their fields including the newest Top Ranger and Top Operator. What's going to happen? Is Kate's secret going to come out? How will her friends react?


	6. Outdoor Class

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. HAVE. FINALLY. FINISHED. UPLOADING. THESE. OVER. HERE.
> 
> Do you know how sometimes you feel like you have so much to do but you really don't so you push something off and off until you finally just do it and you realize that there wasn't much to do? That was me with uploading these chapters. I don't know why, but I thought it would take forever and it only took like five minutes, so I apologize. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy the chapters and I look forward to seeing you when I finish writing the next one!

The sound of Isaac's tinkering filled their table.

Beside her, Keith was bouncing up and down in his seat, his eggs and bacon already demolished. His knee constantly brushed her leg, as it was jumping up and down constantly to get out all of his pent up excitement over the events of the day. Keith's pent up excitement was almost annoying to Kate, who wanted to reach over and smack his arm and tell him to keep his foot planted on the floor (at the same time, however, she thought it was cute).

Meanwhile, Rhythmi was chatting to pretty much every person who would listen to her. Halley and the blonde had talked about who they were most excited about meeting for almost fifteen minutes. After Halley had run to take a shower, Rhythmi struck up a conversation with Isaac, then Keith, before moving towards Ms. April and Mr. Kaplan. Currently, Rhythmi was striking up a conversation with Janice, who seemed to be recounting a long story about one of the alumni.

"Are you excited?" Keith spoke.

Aside from her and Isaac, the only remaining person at the table was Brayden, who was using his thumb to keep the pages of his manual apart. With his other hand, he was bringing cereal and milk to his mouth and ignoring the fact that he had milk sliding down his chin. Seemingly realizing that Keith was talking to him after Isaac stopped tinkering, he looked up curiously and perplexed. "Huh?" he spoke, half-slurred.

Keith laughed before repeating his question.

"Oh, yeah, of course," Brayden laughed. He flipped the page with his thumb. "Outdoor class has been something that we have been looking forward to for _months_. And, now we get to not only have a few people in the field but also some of the best. Halley has been going crazy with the fact that Elaine is coming." He returned to eating his cereal. "I swear, the only thing I've heard about _all _month is Elaine."

Kate let out a laugh, glancing towards the boy with the blonde mushroom cut. "All I have heard from Isaac is about how he's going to see if the scientist from the Ranger Union can help him out on his energy problem."

"Well," Isaac replied. "My normal help isn't being productive in helping me solve the energy problem itself or I wouldn't need to as the visiting scientist, now would I?"

"Hey," Kate replied, pointing her fork in his direction. "We have tried every single electric Pokémon that we can think of that is in this building and school grounds as well as simulations that will predict the electrical voltage. Nothing short of a legendary Pokémon will work." Isaac laughed. "Besides, if _someone_ would show me the original plans for the device, maybe I'll know how to help you convert the energy."

"Hey," Isaac replied, mimicking her movement with the screwdriver in his palm. "You know very well why I can't. It's bad enough you've been helping me on this." Kate let out a laugh.

"Who are you excited about coming to the Outdoor Class, Kate?" Brayden questioned as Halley returned with drenched hair.

Before Isaac returned his gaze back to his tinkering, Kate's mind registered the concerned look on her friend's features. But, Kate struggled to find an answer to Brayden's poised question. Who _was _she excited to see? She couldn't deny that she was dreading seeing her brother again. She loved her brother, every day since the day he had left, but she was dreading that he might leave again and leave her with even more pain that had been originally there. Kate wasn't entirely for sure if she was happy to see Crawford or Elaine either. Both were stationed in Vientown where her brother was.

Did they know him?

Would they know her?

Why would it be so bad if they didn't?

However, before Kate could even properly figure out an answer, Ms. April announced that the first of the guests had arrived and were waiting in the Square. And, just like blinking, the other students were out of their seats and racing for the stairs. Keith and Rhythmi were with them. Kate gave Isaac a look, who was looking at her concerned. But, she knew that he would not bring it up until it started seriously affecting her. It was the type of person that Isaac was and, right now, she was thankful for it.

"Kate," Ms. April spoke as Kate moved to finish eating her own eggs. Instead of her typical white skirt, blouse, and heels, her teacher decided on wearing a pair of denim jeans and a jacket over her shoulders. Her brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail on the back of her head. She wore fingerless gloves and there was a letter in her hands. "These letters came in the mail for you the other day. I apologize, we only just managed to get them to you today."

"Mail day isn't until Monday," she replied, taking the letters. "Why are you giving them to me now?"

Ms. April did not reply to her comment or acknowledge it in any way. Instead, she reached out her other hand, which was curled up in a fist. "And, I've been asked to give this to you. I did not realize that this belonged to you." Kate held out her hand and Ms. April dropped something into it. Kate felt the familiar circular curve of the round keychain against her palm. Ms. April gave her a sympathetic look. "I'll see you two outside."

And, with that, she was gone.

"What was that about?" Isaac questioned.

Kate opened up her palm, looking down at the round keychain in her palm. As if she had any doubts, it was the keychain that she had found in the drawer of her desk when hunting for the Styler. Not saying a word to her friend, she hastily tucked it into her pocket before turning her attention to the letters in her hand. The first one was from Kelsei, who's cursive handwriting was wobbly and messy. In addition, there was a heart beside her name. The second one, however, had the slanted cursive of someone else. The letters of her own name were looped together flawlessly and slanted to the left which wasn't surprising because the writer was left handed.

"Kate?" Isaac spoke, getting her attention.

"Hmm?" she hummed as a way of asking.

"What is it?" he questioned.

"It's a letter from my brother," she replied, her voice hushed.

…

"Are you sure you are okay?" Isaac questioned.

"I'll be fine, Isaac," Kate responded. The two of them were walking towards the front door as quickly as they both could. Because of Isaac's long legs, he made it to the door quicker and opened it for her. When she spotted the look of disbelief on his face, she repeated her statement with more emphasis, "I'll be fine."

"That's not what I asked," Isaac rebuffed, letting the door swing closed with a slam. Kate sent him a look.

"There you are!" The shout from Keith ended their conversation. The two turned to see that the red-head Ranger-to-be was standing by the steps to the Ascension Square. Beside him, Rhythmi stood with her blonde curls tied up into a ponytail on the top of her head. She beamed at the sight of them. "What's been keeping you guys?" Keith questioned, glancing between both of them.

Kate moved to open her mouth, but Isaac cut her off. "Ms. April gave Kate letters from her family so she was putting them in her room," Isaac spoke, flawlessly. Even though it was the truth, it still felt like a lie. "She put them in her room and I had to put my device away before we could come down."

"Oh," Keith spoke.

"Well," Rhythmi piped up. "Pretty everyone is here now, except for the Ranger from Boyleland and those from the Ranger Union. According to Mr. Kaplan, the Top Ranger, Kellyn, has to run some classified information to someone in the Fiore region and the Top Operator has to be his support. But, they are staying longer to accommodate for it."

"Fun," Kate remarked, her stomach turning. She had been nervous enough about Outdoor Class. Now, her brother was late, giving her another hour with her increasingly anxious stomach and wandering mind. From the look on her friends' faces (plus Isaac's quick sympathetic glance), she realized that her sarcasm must've been too obvious. "Must stink to have the day off then be asked to do something," she elaborated.

"That's true," Rhythmi replied, crossing her arms over her chest. Kate might've been imagining the brief concerned glance that the blonde had sent her way, but the blonde didn't speak up about it or anything. "We better get going before Ms. April accuses us of trying to pull a prank," she spoke, motioning towards the stairs. "I mean, one of us is known to pull pranks on someone."

Keith shrugged his shoulders.

"Agreed," Isaac replied, moving towards the stairs and laughing. "I've wanted to see if any of the mechanics might be capable of pointing me in the direction of a reliable energy source that could properly power the device."

"How's that going?" Rhythmi questioned, moving with him.

Kate moved to follow them, but Keith reached out to grab her elbow. His grip was light. He was hardly holding her, but there was a heavy look in his eyes as he stared at her. Kate glanced towards the blondes, who continued down the steps and oblivious to their friends who stayed back, before returning her gaze to the taller Ranger-to-be. "Are you okay?" Keith questioned, concern obvious in his voice. "You look nervous. In fact, you've looked nervous whenever someone talked about Outdoor Class."

Kate bit her lip. "I'll be fine."

"That's not what I asked."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's what Isaac said too," she muttered under her breath.

"Isaac's a pretty smart guy," Keith replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "You know I meant what I said right," he spoke. She sent him a confused glance and he moved to explain. "In Ms. April's class, when we went to get my styler back," he continued. She nodded her head. She remembered. "I'm here to talk about it if you need to. Rhythmi and Isaac are worried about you. I'm … I'm worried about you."

"I know," Kate replied, turning towards him. "But, I'll be okay, I promise. It's just… old memories are being brought up."

"We're your friends, Kate," Keith returned. "We're always going to be here for you. No matter what."

Kate smiled at him, reaching out to place her hand over one of his own. Her fingers curled around his own, slipping between his own hands and the fabric of his jacket. Almost immediately, she felt the added pressure of his own fingers as though he was returning her grip. "I know," she replied. "And, I promise that I will tell you guys soon. I just don't know how to tell you what's going on." She paused. "I've never been good about talking about my feelings."

"You talk with Isaac about your feelings," he countered.

"Isaac's good at deducing," she responded.

Keith nodded his head, unable to argue.

"Come on," she spoke, pulling her hand from his own. "We better get to the Outdoor Class before Ms. April comes up to drag us down by our ears and cutting off the time. Or even worse, makes Mr. Kaplan do it for her." Keith laughed at that one, moving towards the steps as she did. Kate surveyed the group that was waiting for them.

Upon reaching the bottom of the steps, Isaac seemed to have migrated towards Mr. Kincaid. The two of them were in a deep talk about something or the other, keeping their voices hushed. Rhythmi had gone off and migrated towards the Operator who was here, who's name Kate couldn't remember. The other Operators were talking amongst her with wide-eyed looks on their faces. The soon-to-be Mechanics were in a group as well near the water. But, the rest of them (both the teachers and Rangers-to-be) seemed to be located in the same blob of people, who were sitting around the feet of a man with a puffy brown afro and a commanding, funny presence.

_Crawford_, she remembered. Ms. April talked about him and his pranks all the time. The brown afro was the only thing that seemed to connect the two.

Kate glanced towards Keith, who nodded his head, and they moved in the direction of the group. Kate was catching the tail end of what sounded like an epic story as they approached. And, Keith even seemed to look impressed at the man, who by all means _didn't _look like the typical Ranger. Then, the man glanced up at the sight of the two of them approaching. He beamed, "Oh, you must be Kate!"

Keith blinked.

"Huh?" Kate questioned. "You know who I am?"

"Course," he replied. In a split second that everyone missed (but Kate didn't), Crawford glanced towards Ms. April, who was standing not far from the group. Then, the Ranger turned back as though nothing had even happened. "Ms. April is impressed by how much you've improved. And, I have to know who is going to beat me as one of her favorite students," he spoke with a grin on his face. "And, it's no easy feat! Come on, join in on our story. It's almost done!"

And, with that, he continued on with his story as though nothing had even happened.

…

Almost as soon as Crawford's following story had ended, a new Ranger had arrived at the Square, dropping off of a Staraptor like it was nothing. The crowd that had formed around Crawford was now almost completely gone with only Kate remaining. Ms. April had run off to make sure that the soon-to-be Rangers were giving the Boyleland Ranger enough room to breathe.

As Crawford was finishing up the story, a woman approached the small group. Like the others, she was dressed in civilian clothes, namely a pair of leggings with a hoodie. She had her mechanic goggles atop her curly brown hair and a pair of brown eyes that were warm. It was only by Kate glancing in the direction of her friend did Kate realize who the woman was (Halley mouthed '_that's Elaine_'). The woman barely looked older than her own brother, yet she was a top Mechanic in her own field of study.

"Crawford," Elaine spoke, putting her hands on her hips. "I think we're supposed to be here to give advice on people's futures not talk their ears off about some mundane thing that happened _one _time."

"The girl asked if I've ever needed to use force against someone who was trying to harm Pokemon or someone," Crawford rebuffed, mirroring her action. Kate let out a snicker. "I'm just trying to give her what she asked for!"

Elaine rolled her eyes. "Anyways, it's so good to finally meet you, Kate," Elaine spoke.

"Wait," Kate spoke. "You know who I am too?"

"Of course," Elaine responded like it was obvious. "Back when I was here at the Ranger School, I was really good friends with Linda and your brother. The three of us were as close as we could be. Kellyn and I got assigned to Vientown together while Linda went to Boyleland. We've stayed close."

"Plus," Crawford spoke up. "You look exactly like him. It's not that hard to tell that you two are related. But, we also worked with him and were his friend for three years before his promotion as a Top Ranger went through last year."

"And, he's been around Vientown a lot in the past couple of months. Here and there," Elaine admitted to Kate. "Actually, he's been asking for advice about you."

"What do you mean?" Kate questioned.

However, before Elaine could answer her question, Crawford spoke up, "I'll run interference." Before Kate could see what he meant, he was running off, wrapping an arm around Halley's neck and practically guiding her away from Elaine. Crawford leaned forward to talk to her. The two continued walking away in hushed whispers and giggles. He also managed to horde the rest of the Mechanics who were starting to head their way as well.

"Leaving you and your family," Elaine picked up with Kate's question, turning back towards Kate. "It was probably the second hardest thing that he's ever had to do. And, I've seen him have to physically restrain a person who he admired because he touched Luanna, one of the other Rangers, in an inappropriately and right in front of him. It was within her first month and she was a rookie, new to being a Ranger, but Kellyn didn't stand for it." Kate had seen the headline of it.

"What was the hardest thing?" Kate questioned, curious.

"Not knowing where you went," Elaine confessed.

Kate blinked.

"Wait, what?"

Elaine gave her a small sympathetic smile. "About a year or so after we got stationed in Vientown, he finally worked up the courage to come home. The fight that he had with your dad about being a Ranger had taken a toll on him. He was afraid to come back and upset him further. But, by the time he finally got off and headed home to face him. You guys had already left. He spent a couple of days trying to figure out where you had moved to, but none of the neighbors knew where you were."

Kate sighed, nodding her head. "Mom got injured. Dad and I couldn't do everything fast enough to be able to make as much money as we needed to. So, we were moved to Fall City. We were never close with the neighbors, to begin with so not a lot of people knew where we had gone." Elaine nodded her head as she listened to the story.

"He came back two days early," Elaine replied. "He didn't talk about it for a couple of days. In fact, it took Barlow locking him in a room for him to speak. He had talked to everyone in the town two or three times but no one knew anything. Linda tried looking into it, but even she couldn't find you. After a while, he had to stop looking into it because he would get so down that he would throw himself too hard. But, I think that going hard into work was his way of coping."

Kate bit down on her bottom lip as she looked at the grass beneath their feet.

"He's always been that way," she replied. She thought of the time that one of his friends from school had said something mean and ended their friendship. Kellyn had come home and immediately set out to the fields. He had worked until after dark and then stayed up to complete his homework. He worked himself so hard that he ended up falling asleep as soon as the assignment was finished.

She thought about the letter that was sitting in her bedroom drawer. What was in his letter? Did he explain all of this? The nagging need to leave Outdoor Class to go read it formed in her stomach. She might've been angry at her brother for leaving to become a Ranger initially when he left all those years ago. But, now, all she did was miss him.

There was a loud buzz that cut through Kate's thoughts. The noise had gotten everyone off guard. The Rangers searched for their stylers, frantically trying to determine if they were the one being called. But, there was a mixture of relief and almost anxiousness on their faces as they determined one-by-one that they weren't the owner of the call. The owner of the call was, in fact, Crawford.

"_Voicemail! Voicemail!" _a gruff voice spoke over the styler that was clipped onto the back belt loop of Crawford's denim jeans. "_Crawford, Elaine, are you there? Can anyone hear me? It's Barlow!"_

"Yeah, Leader!" Crawford spoke, the styler in hand. "We're both here. What's going on?"

"_There's a Mantine that's been hurt on the eastern shore of School Island!" _the man, Barlow, spoke, hurriedly. Crawford glanced towards Kate and Elaine, who were both listening in on the conversation. "_According to the report, the Mantine apparently ran into a passing cargo ship. I've got Luanna headed that way with a boat for the two of you. You too, Elaine. We're going to need your medical expertise on this one!"_

"Roger that, Leader," Crawford spoke, ending the voice mail. As if it had been planned all along, a boat waded to the pier off the side of the Square. A woman not much older than Kate emerged from the cabin, waving her arm. Crawford let out a laugh. "Sorry to cut our portion of Outdoor class short, guys! But, we've got to go help a Mantine."

"Will you be back?" one of the students asked.

"Maybe," Crawford replied. Elaine patted Kate on the shoulder before moving towards the boat, climbing onto the back with ease. "We've got to make sure that the Mantine is okay before we can think about coming back here."

"Keep me updated on the Mantine's condition and on whether or not you'll be coming back later this evening," Ms. April practically ordered.

"You got it, Ms. April!" Crawford spoke, running towards the boat. With one jump, he hopped into the back with Elaine, who was now leaning against the railing of the boat. "Keep working at your dreams, guys! Let's meet again somewhere sometime if we don't end up coming back later! Let's go, Luanna!"

By the time everyone had looked away from the boat, Kate was already gone.

…

By the time Kate had managed to finish the three-page letter from her older brother, the door to her dorm had gently opened and she heard the gentle knock that only could've come from Rhythmi. Kate glanced up to find the blonde with her head sticking into the dorm. "Want some company?" she questioned, leaning against the door. Kate motioned her in and Rhythmi walked over to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as she sat down. Isaac walked in next, flopping down on Rhythmi's bed.

Keith walked in next, closing the door and proceeding to lean against it. "Want to talk about it?"

Kate sent the red-haired Ranger-to-be a look (and, she noted out of the corner of her eye that Rhythmi mirrored her actions). "Keith," Rhythmi replied, a playful lift to her tone. "We already talked about this. We're not making Kate say anything if she doesn't want to."

"I'm just asking," Keith sighed.

Kate let out a chuckle.

"She wants to talk about it," Isaac supplied, leaning back on the bed. Kate pinched the bridge of her nose as she let out a sigh. Isaac was always good about reading her like a book or a pair of blueprints. "And, she doesn't want to talk about it." There was a length of silence. "What did the letter say?"

Kate's laugh got caught in her throat as she held out the sheets of paper in his direction. Rhythmi's bed creaked as Isaac shifted to reach for the papers. She felt him gently tug on the sheets to let her know that he had them and she let the papers go, her hand dropping onto her knee. "It's exactly what Elaine and Crawford told me," Kate informed Isaac.

"Is that a bad thing?" Rhythmi spoke up. Kate glanced over at her. The brunette saw the sympathetic look in her eyes as she raised a perfect eyebrow. _Did she know too? _Kate glanced towards Isaac, who also seemed surprised. "You two geniuses don't have to look all surprised," she teased. Kate let out a laugh, putting her face in her hands. "I'm smart enough to put two and two together."

"Anyone want to clue me in?" Keith questioned, raising his hand. Kate glanced up to see the perplexed expression on his face as his eyes darted between all three of them. "What is it that both of you seem to know that I don't know? Did I miss a heart-to-heart when I was pulling a prank on Mr. Kincaid?"

Kate let out a laugh, shaking her head. "It's not that, Keith." She glanced up to him, to see a brief look of vulnerability on his face. The others seemed to have noticed it as well as Rhythmi quickly averted her gaze and Isaac returned his own onto the letter (which she knew that he had already read twice). Kate stood on her feet and moved towards him. "Have you ever seen a picture of Kellyn Morrow?" she questioned, her voice soft.

He shook his head as Rhythmi moved off Kate's bed. "Not for a while. Why?"

Kate heard the papers of Rhythmi's magazine and turned to find her flipping through the pages. She seemed to have found what she was looking for. Kate spotted that the blonde glanced towards her and nodded her head as she turned back towards Keith. His brown eyes glanced towards her, connecting with her own blue ones, as he reached out for the magazine. She spotted the confusion in his eyes as he stared at her. But, he didn't look at the magazine until Kate nodded her head.

Keith's brown eyes widened as he stared down at Kellyn's photo in the magazine. "Wow," he whispered. "You look just like him." He was quiet, then he spoke. "Cousin?"

"Brother," Kate corrected, running a hand through her hair. She had sworn that she had tied her hair on the top of her head, but she had not realized that she had unwoven it at some point. "Older brother," she added when he glanced over at her. She realized afterward was pretty obvious as it was common knowledge that Kellyn Morrow was 22. "Sorry, I realize that's obvious, I guess," she trailed off, moving to sit back down on her bed.

"There's something else," Keith noted, crossing his arms with the magazine still in his hand. Kate glanced up at him. "You wouldn't be upset just because your brother was coming to the Outdoor Class if you were on good terms." Isaac stood up and placed the sheets of paper on Kate's desk. Desperate for anything else to look at other than Keith's eyes and Rhythmi's confused stare, Kate watched him.

"My brother," Kate started, her eyes drifting to the Buneary plushie on Rhythmi's bed. "He and I were really close as kids. He was protective of me and I was protective of him. He had always wanted to be a Ranger and my dad voiced his disagreement, saying that Kellyn needed to stay and help him on the farm. So, when Kellyn turned 18, he wanted to become a Ranger. They… they would get into really loud fights about what Kellyn wanted to do. And then…" she trailed off. "And then, he left."

Rhythmi sat down beside her on the bed, reaching out to hold her hand and give it a comforting squeeze.

"Because he left, my mom and I had to help more on our farm, but we couldn't do enough work to make up for what Kellyn would do," Kate supplied. "Plus, the owner of a successful hotel chain kept offering us prices for the land. Dad would always turn them down. Then, my mom got injured in a car accident." Isaac sat down on Kate's other side. It was the first time that he had heard the full story too. Keith sat on the floor in front of her and she felt the pressure of his palm on the back of her calf. "We couldn't keep the farm. Dad took the offer which would cover Mom's medical bills and we moved to Fall City."

Tears welled in her eyes and she pushed them away.

"And, for a while, I resented him for it," Kate admitted, feeling a heavy weight on her chest. "I resented my brother for his popularity and his fame because he had left. He had left without saying goodbye and without making sure that we were all okay. Even if he never said it, Dad missed him. Kellyn was the only other boy in the house so they had a special bond. Mom missed her first born and Kelsei, she just missed her older brother."

There was another hand that looped with her free one. From the warmth and familiarity that welled in her stomach, she figured out that it was Keith's hand. The tears in her eyes were so much that she couldn't see any of them anymore, only their faint, blurred outlines.

"And, not long after the move…" she trailed off. Keith's hand squeezed hers lightly and she clung desperately to the feeling of his hand. "I thought I had a friend, a girl named Shelly. For a while, we were so close that people thought we were twins. We were linked at the hip and practically always sending messages with each other after we left each other's house. We shared everything with one another, secrets, food, drinks, friends, a job. She knew about my brother, knew how I felt about everything that ever happened in my life, and everything that someone that close of me should know."

She lifted her hand that was joined with Keith's to wipe her cheek and she felt his thumb quickly dart out to push the stray tears away.

"And, then, she started lying to me and saying that she was home but when I called, she wasn't there," Kate whispered. "And, it lasted for about four months before I finally found out the truth. I thought I was going crazy, feeling like she was lying to me because my gut was telling me one thing and she was telling me another. When I brought it up to her, she got mad at me, saying that I didn't trust her which was the opposite because I _did _trust her, but I couldn't shake the feeling that she was lying to me. I thought I was a terrible friend for always thinking that she was lying and…" Another useless wipe at her ears and she was rambling again, "And, then, one day, I walked in and she was kissing the guy that I liked, the guy she _knew _I liked, and I found out later that she had been dating him for four months. And, I…"

Keith's hand on the back of her calf was still there, his thumb making circles on the fabric of her jeans.

"After that, I was in a really bad place," Kate admitted. "I resented Kellyn because I thought that if he hadn't left, then I wouldn't be in that situation. And… then, one day, one of the Rangers of Fall City found me wandering around after school on the bad side of town and walked me home, made sure I got in our apartment and talked with my mom, who was home. The next day, he stopped by to see how I was doing and ended up walking to school. He became my friend and showed me another side to being a Ranger and always checked up on me. My brother didn't matter to him. And, whether he realized it or not… I'm pretty sure he saved my life… I wanted to be the kind of Ranger that he was. So, after I graduated and I had to take a summer class because I failed…"

"And then, you came here," Rhythmi finished.

Kate nodded her head. "It's why I was late. Well, it's part of the reason. The school was already full and I was only able to come because someone dropped out of the program for something or another."

"You're our friend, Kate," Rhythmi spoke, wrapping her arm around Kate's shoulders. "What happened to you before you came here is in the past. You're our friend and we're here to help you heal. Nothing you say or nothing that you have done, which is exactly what I would've done if I was in your shoes, could make me change my choice about being your friend."

"What she said," Isaac spoke.

"And," Rhythmi responded, wrapping her arms around Kate's shoulders and leaning against the brunette's free shoulder. "By the way, I promise as your new best friend that I will _never _make you feel like that ever again. If you ever need questions about something that's going on with me, just ask me and I'll tell you. I trust you enough for that."

Kate grinned, leaning against her friend with watery eyes. "Thank you," Kate whispered. Isaac's hand was on her shoulder. Keith didn't say anything, but his grip on her hand told him what she needed to know.

"We better get back to Outdoor Class before Ms. April comes to see what's wrong and finds boys in our dorms," Rhythmi informed them, patting her shoulder before getting up. Kate nodded her head and moved to get up, but was trapped by Keith still sitting at her feet. A few moments later, he pushed himself to his feet and Isaac followed after Rhythmi. As Kate stood up, Keith wrapped an arm around her and gave her a hug.

Kate wrapped her arms around him and leaned against him as they left her room.

…

As the four of them were exiting the building, a large blue Pokémon landed with a loud _thump _on the ground, stirring up the grass around him. Because of Kate's extensive study of Pokémon, she recognized the creature as a Garchomp. But, it's the large scar on his left wing that identified to Kate _who's _Garchomp he was. The creature bent low to the ground, nearly flattening himself to allow the three passengers that were on his back to get down. While the brunette man in a hoodie and the blue-haired woman had both gotten down easily, the third of their group with dark brown hair and a red Fine styler on his left arm had gotten stuck trying to get off his partner's shoulders.

"I'm fine," Kellyn spoke, waving his companions off. "Go to the Square and let them know that we are here."

"Kellyn," the woman spoke. "Your brace is caught."

"I can get the damned brace, Linda," Kellyn promised, waving her off as he began fiddling with the brace on his leg. His braced leg was caught on one of his Partner Pokémon's man spikes and he remained focused on it all the same. "We're late as it is. Tell them that I'll be down in a few minutes."

For a moment, Kate thought that Linda was going to stay to help him out. But, the blue-haired woman nodded her head and moved off towards the Square. The man in the hoodie looked like he was going to wait and reached out to help him with something, but Kellyn waved him off too, swatting at his hands. Like Linda, he walked off, briefly jogging to catch up with his other companion.

Kate glanced towards her friends, only to see that Isaac and Rhythmi had managed to drag Keith almost entirely to the Square while she had not been paying attention. The three of them disappeared down the stairs as well, following after the scientist and Operator that had clamored off the Garchomp. Kate was alone and her brother was right there in front of her. Kate swallowed, steeled the nervous flipping in her stomach, and moved towards him.

His partner Pokémon, Kate couldn't remember his name, let out a deep noise in Kellyn's direction to signal her approach.

"I'm moving as fast as I can, Slicer," Kellyn replied. "But, the brace got caught somewhere over the ocean. I should've just untangled it while we were in Ringtown. Then, we wouldn't be in this mess." Another noise as Kate stepped closer. She could see the detail of the metal of the brace on his right leg. It was a lot more supportive than the one he used to have back at their childhood home and Kate wondered if Elaine had built it for him to support his knee more.

Slicer's eyes darted back towards her and he let out a sigh. The dark blue Pokémon crawled towards her position, where she had stopped a couple of feet away, effectively dragging Kellyn with him. While Kellyn had clung to his fin and managed to hop along, Kate spotted that he almost fell over a few times. Kellyn was still oblivious to her position until Slicer had practically had them side by side. "Katie…" he trailed off.

"Hey," she responded. "I think you need some help."

Kellyn chuckled. "Yeah." Kate reached down to his knee brace, untangling the metal from the fabric of the cloth strips that separated the metal from his skin. It was a bit of a difficult endeavor, but Kellyn's brace was free, allowing his right leg to drop. Once Kellyn's brace was free, Slicer stood to his full height, but Kellyn still braced himself against his partner. "It's been years," he spoke. "But, my leg still gets numb if it stays in the same position for a long time."

"I guess that teaches you not to be a showoff while driving a four-wheeler," Kate replied, crossing her arms over her chest. Kellyn let out a laugh and Kate felt the smile slipping on her lips. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Kellyn replied. "And, I'm sorry about-"

Kate shook her head. "You've apologized enough times, Kellyn," Kate whispered. "For things that you don't even need to apologize for, you followed your dream and you've done incredible things and saved so many people in the process. There's nothing to apologize for."

Kellyn nodded his head, knowing that it was best not to argue. "Where did you guys go?"

"Fall City," Kate replied, reaching out to pet Slicer's shoulder. The dragon Pokémon's skin was rough to the touch, but he eagerly welcomed her petting him. "We had just moved so I don't think we had completed all the required paperwork yet when you and Linda attempted to figure out where we were. But, Dad and Mom are thinking of moving here to Almia. But, they don't have a solid plan."

Kellyn smiled, a beam that lit up his face. "That's really good. It's a great region here. I missed them a lot. But, as much as I want to stay up here and talk about what's happened between both of us in the past four years, I think we need to head down to the Square before Linda threatens to call Chairperson Erma and get me chewed out for not paying attention to the other students."

Kate nodded her head. "Yeah, but just one thing." Kellyn glanced at her with a confused expression on his face. Kate extended her arms and stepped towards him. Kellyn stepped into her arms, wrapping his own around her so tightly that she felt warm, safe, and secure. Slicer bumped his head with their sides and Kate laughed.

"He's really affectionate," Kellyn responded, pulling away from her. But, one of his arms stayed wrapped around her shoulders, keeping himself upright.

"I can tell," Kate replied. "Let's go. Do you need help down the stairs?"

"Yes, if you don't mind," Kellyn replied. Kate moved towards his right side, wrapping out of his arms around his back to keep him upright. "My right knee doesn't bend when it locks up so stairs are… difficult to say the least." As the two of them moved, albeit slowly at first, towards the stairs, Slicer moved to Kellyn's free side, ready to catch him if he stumbled.

…

Even though Linda had managed to completely enthrall the students in the story of why they were late, the students seemed to quickly realize that Kellyn had come down the stairs with Slicer. And, they also seemed to realize that Kate was partially holding him up as they walked down the steps. For the time, Kate felt like she was completely her true self like she wasn't hiding anything. But, her classmates' confused gazes made her feel almost embarrassed as they descended the steps.

As they approached the group, Kellyn gave the crowded group a wave. "Hello, everyone, I'm sorry we're late! I promise that it's all my fault. I had to run some critical information because my partner Pokémon is the fastest at the Ranger Union and Professor Hastings needed it as soon as possible. And, then my brace gets caught and I walk slow."

Halley appeared at the front of the group. "Excuse me, but why do you need a knee brace?"

Kellyn let out a breath and the simple noise from him which caused Kate to begin laughing. Kate moved to tell the story of how Kellyn busted up his knee before Kellyn lightly punched her in her side with his free hand. "No, this is _my _story and I'm not letting you give away any false details about what actually happened."

"False details? I witnessed it. If anyone is going to give false details, it'll be you trying to make yourself look better!"

"I was doing work!"

"You were showing off!"

Linda let out an amused sigh, shaking her head. "He was working on his family's farm and fell off a four-wheeler. It busted up his knee and he had to wear a cast for four weeks. He's had to wear a knee brace ever since to keep down the swelling and support his legs," she explained.

"Oh," the group of students whispered. One of the Rangers from Mr. Kincaid's class, whose name that Kate had forgotten, raised his hand. Kellyn nodded towards him and the student spoke, "Is it hard being a Ranger that needs a knee brace?"

"Not at all," Kellyn supplied to the student.

Linda stepped towards the two of them. Instead of hugging Kellyn, as Kate had expected, the Top Operator wrapped her arms around Kate (as well as Kellyn's arm around her shoulder) and hugged the brunette tight around her shoulders. Kate wrapped her free arm around her and hugged her back. As she did, Linda whispered in her ear, "It's wonderful to finally meet you."

"You too," Kate responded.

"On most occasions," Kellyn continued as though nothing had happened and waving around his left arm as he talked. "My knee doesn't hurt me at all, save for being sort every once in a while. But, being on the back of a Garchomp for one and a half hours with only two ten-minute breaks of standing and moving around causes my knee to get numb."

For a moment, Kellyn's quiet.

"Now, that you think about it, it's actually when it stays in one spot for a significant amount of time. I have to move around in the mornings generally. I can survive without the brace, of course, but it's better on my knee and I'm less sore later on if I wear it."

"Yo, Morrow!" a voice shouted. It had to have been from Crawford, Kate realized as they all turned towards the port, where the exact same boat that drove them away was docking. The man with a brunette afro jumped off the back of the boat and grinned at them all as he approached from the dock. "Hello, to all the future Rangers, Operators, and Mechanics! We're back!" he announced to the other students, who cheered at the sight of him.

Elaine, who stood on the boat, rolled her eyes as she spoke to someone over her shoulder. Once the boat had stopped and the motor ceased, a black-haired woman walked out, dressed in the Ranger uniform and her black hair elegantly done in a braid. It was obvious that she had just come out of the water, from the way that her hair was still practically dripping from her hair. The latter girl said something and the two of them erupted into laughter as they climbed off the boat, arm-in-arm.

"The Mantine is in the perfectly capable hands of the Ranger Union," Crawford announced.

"Did you even get in the water?" Kate questioned curiously.

Crawford looked offended that she would ask that question. "Yes, I did, Little Morrow. My hair just dries quicker than Luanna's does."

Luanna laughed as she approached with Elaine by her side. "Plus, the Mantine didn't seem to like men so he got out earlier than I did. Wendy and a team of female researchers had come to transport the Mantine to a caring center for marine animals." Luanna glanced at Kellyn, a light blush on her cheeks (that she was certain that she was the only one to notice). "Hey, Kellyn."

"Hey, Luanna," he remarked.

Kate raised an eyebrow, looking towards her brother.

His eyes flickered back over at her and he promptly shouted, "What?!"

Kate shook her head, laughing.

…

"Well," Kate spoke as she entered Keith and Isaac's room. Only the former was in the room, lying on his bed in a pair of black sweats and a _Go-Rock Quads_ t-shirt. He glanced up at her, craning his head back to look at her as she stepped into the room. "Kellyn and Linda finally left the compound after being bombarded with last minute questions. He regained full stability in his knee again and should make a safe return back to the Ranger Union in about ten minutes."

"That's good," Keith remarked, a teasing grin forming on his features. His notebook was over his lap and propped up on his legs. From a quick look at his notes, he must've been studying for the quiz tomorrow. "But that doesn't explain why the rule-follower is in and willingly entered a boy's room _alone_ with Mr. Kaplan fixing to make his rounds in about five minutes."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Gotta live on the wild side everyone once in a while," Kate supplied. "Do you not remember a couple of weeks ago? I was in this room alone with you."

"That was on the orders of a teacher," Keith replied, closing his notebook and placing it on the other end of the bed. "And, that fact is exactly why it, therefore, does not count." He swung his legs over the side of the bed, letting his feet hit the floor. He patted the bed beside him, indicating that she should sit down on the bed beside him. "So, what's going on? Is everything okay?"

"I was just wondering if finding out who my brother has changed our friendship," Kate supplied, sitting down. She tucked her left leg beneath her as she sat down.

"No," Keith admitted to her, placing his elbows on his knees as he turned to face her. "I mean, I wish you had told me about who your brother was, but I also understand why you didn't tell me. Kellyn is an idol to practically every student who wants to be a Ranger. Myself being included in that measure. If we had all known that you were his younger sister, we would've treated you different, expected more of you because you are his sister. Once again, I am included in that measure."

"I'm still sorry I didn't tell you sooner," Kate replied. "I should've told you after I got to know you all."

"Kate," Keith responded, crossing his arms over his chest. "I understand why you didn't tell me. But, I'm surprised that you only told Isaac. I figured you would've told Rhythmi of all people. The two of you were always really close." Keith turned towards his notes that were sprawled over the bed, picking up the notebook and looking over the pages. "And, she's going to be an Operator so she doesn't really have the same hero aspect of the Rangers that I do."

"Keith," Kate attempted to interrupt.

But, Keith kept going, straightening pages as he talked, paying her no heed. "And, if you choose to tell the boy-genius your secrets, I completely understand because he's a really trustworthy guy and I'd trust him with my life and honestly, he gave no hint that you had even told him. So, I guess we know that the boy is really good at keeping secrets."

"I didn't tell Isaac," Kate interrupted before he could continue.

Keith turned towards her, his blue eyes wide in disbelief as he stared at her. Kate felt nervous under his questionable gaze before he spoke up, "Then how did he find out?"

"He got my last name, somehow," Kate supplied. "Probably from Kincaid, if I had to guess. Isaac lived in Pueltown with his sister and it's likely that the papers covered Kellyn's ascension to one of the Top Rangers of Almia. So, with all that knowledge, I didn't connect the dots."

"Yeah, Kate, I'm aware that Isaac lived in Pueltown. We went to the same high school together," Keith smirked, looking at her. "And, I would've connected the dots had I gotten your last name too. Especially when you first got here. Plus, if I had seen a picture of him once you got here, I would've seen that you guys looked really similar."

Kate laughed, leaning closer to him. "I didn't tell anyone."

Keith nodded his head, a small smile on his face. "That makes me feel better."

"Why?"

Keith blushed, shrugging his shoulders as he turned back to his notes. "It just makes me feel better."

"That's not good enough," Kate supplied, frowning as she leaned closer towards him. He had obviously taken a shower before Kate had arrived, judging from the faint smell of his soap. "In fact, that only makes me more suspicious. Is everything okay? You've been acting like something is wrong."

"Everything is fine," Keith replied, rolling his eyes. "Nothing is bothering me."

"Liar."

Keith let out a sigh. "I'm not lying."

"Yes, you are."

"And, why is that?"

"You're studying? You never study, Keith, even when you don't know the topic. Plus, I know for a fact that you have almost every single Pokémon memorized on their cry alone and that is what we're being tested over tomorrow."

Keith turned towards her to refute her statement. But, instead of opening his mouth to spit out an excuse about something or another, his mouth fell open and nothing seemed to come out. Kate simply blinked at him in confusion, opening her mouth to question what was wrong, before she realized that they were incredibly close to one another. Keith's eyes flickered up to meet her own, then he's leaning closer to her, shortening the distance between them.

Kate's eyes fluttered shut, his hand found the way to the back of her neck, her hand mirrored his own, and she tilted her head to the side so their noses wouldn't-

_CRASH!_

Isaac let out a string of curses on the other side of the bedroom door, following the sound of whatever had been in his hands falling (quite loudly) to the ground. The sound had pulled them out of … whatever compromising position that they seemed to find themselves in, jumping apart in fright. Of being caught or of what it would've turned out to be was a completely different story. Keith's eyes were on Kate's, his blue eyes holding her own.

But, before he or she could muster up the courage to say _anything, _the door was swinging open and Isaac was stepping inside.

"Kate? What are you doing in here?" Isaac questioned, looking between the two of them. He was so frazzled at having dropped whatever it was that he didn't notice the blushes on Kate and Keith's cheeks only seemed to flare up more at his question.

"We were just talking about my brother," Kate explained, quickly climbing off of Keith's bed and not sparing him another glance.

_Who knows what would've happened if Isaac hadn't of come back to his dorm_, she thought to herself, which only seemed to continue to stir up the color in her cheeks.

Isaac moved over to his bed, carrying a pile of machine that seemed to have broken apart. Kate wondered if he wanted to work on it with her or need help repairing it, but the words of escape stumbled out of her mouth as soon as she thought about it, "Well, I better get going. Mr. Kaplan is going to start reinforcing lights out and I really don't need to get detention or the rumors that will fly from being caught in a boy's room."

Isaac gave her a quick glance over his shoulder, but Keith's gaze held her own for a much while longer. She stopped breathing.

"Goodnight, see you tomorrow."

Kate felt like she didn't start breathing again until she was safely in her own dorm, slamming the door closed behind her and sliding down it to curl her knees against her chest. Rhythmi, who was on her laptop, glanced at her worriedly, getting up to move to comfort her.

"Kate, what's wrong?" Rhythmi questioned, crouching down in front of her. "Is it about Kellyn?"

Kate shook her head.

"Oh," Rhythmi questioned. "Then, what is it?"

"Uhh," Kate spoke, her voice shaky. "I'm not really good with change especially in terms of my relationships shifting and changing and … and, uh, Keith and I just almost kissed."

"Oh, that's…" Rhythmi spoke, her voice ecstatic before she trailed off moments afterward. The blonde haired girl in front of her cocked her head to the side and sat down beside Kate. "Change is scary, Kate, but change is also good. I mean, change brought you here, right?" Kate nodded her head and Rhythmi took her hand. "Keith knows what you've been through now. You told him and he's going to understand that it could scare you."

"What if… what if us almost kissing changes our friendship?" Kate questioned, wrapping her arms around her knees. "With you and Isaac, you are some of my closest friends. For the first time since everything with Shelly happened, I feel stable and secure. What if that changes our dynamic? What if I need some time, will he be mad at me? Like what if-"

"Kate," Rhythmi spoke, taking her hand in her own. "Stop thinking and start breathing." The order was rather abrupt, but it jarred Kate back into the present. Kate's hand relaxed under Rhythmi's own as Kate forced herself to breathe in her nose and out of her mouth. "You take however long you need, okay? We're always going to be friends, no matter what happens. Remember?"

Kate nodded her head. "Yeah."

"And, you take all the time you need," Rhythmi responded. "If Keith wants to pursue something with you one day, then he'll do it. But, he's the type of guy that's really sensitive to the world around him even if he wants you to believe otherwise. He's going to wait until you're ready so you can take all the time you need. Okay?"

"Okay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Months have passed since Outdoor Class and it's time for the students' one-day internship before graduation. Isaac is off to Altru Inc., Rhythmi to the Ranger Union, and Halley and Brayden are both going to Pueltown. And, Kate is off to Vientown with Keith, which will be the first time they've been alone since... well...
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! If you want to know when I upload the next chapter, make sure you subscribe to the story. If you want to tell me how you felt about the chapter, then please write a review! I love reading the reviews on my story and I hope you've all enjoyed!


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